Evergreen

by RespectableInsomniac

Summary:

Hashirama Senju is in a bit of a financial rut. It's kind of hard when you're living in a big city by yourself, with next to no money from your parents, and a little brother to take care of. Oh and student loans. Can't forget that. So he wasn't in any position to start a relationship. In fact, the thought didn't even cross his mind, but then Madara just had to show up in his life and he can't resist. Maybe he can indulge in this, at least. Like plants, all good things need time to grow so maybe he can give this a little water.

Or:
Hashirama works at a diner, and Mito is his boss. Hashirama is smart, but also kind of an idiot, Tobirama is a 15 year old who makes Hashi's life just a little bit harder by being the snarky little asshole that little brothers tend to be. Madara's did not sign up for that, but definitely has to deal with that too.

Chapter 1: Overworked and Underpaid

Notes:

I hope you like the first chapter of this. I really like this idea.

 

When Hashirama got fired this morning, he was relieved . Deciding to work two full-time jobs was one of the worst ideas he has ever had. He finally had to acknowledge that fact fully today. He spaced out at the restaurant for about two entire minutes and came to the conclusion that no, he would never be attempting to do this again. He knew this wasn’t sustainable, but now he really knows. He didn’t want to acknowledge this at all until he was forced to.

He didn’t even realize he was spacing out, all the sounds around him were getting a bit lower like he was driving away from the epicenter and rolling the windows up to block the noise. He wishes yet again that he were rich so he wouldn’t have to work another day in his life. But that’s a privilege afforded to the few at the expense of the many. 

He can just hear his brother saying, “I told you that you’d overwork yourself,” in his know-it-all kind of way. His little brother likes to act wise, and on some level he is.  Especially when you compare him to other kids his age he might even look like a genius. But he doesn’t really know what the real world is like at this point in his life. Hashirama hopes he can stay that way longer than he was able to and do things he enjoys. Tobirama is smarter than him, he's sure to figure it out. 

Despite Hashirama knowing that having two-full time jobs was not practical in the slightest, he still attempted to do his best at both. But realistically he can’t put his best into both and it ended up showing. His second job fired him this morning after two months due to ‘poor work ethic’, and he didn’t even try to fight it considering he couldn’t be happier that he wasn’t stepping foot in there again. It was torture for him to work there and he hardly got any sleep at all between that job and his job at Mito’s restaurant. It’s a miracle he’s not dead.

So now he’s back to one job, but the bills haven’t gone down, not that they ever would, and the rent is still the same, as it always will be. Student loans aren’t going to go down unless he pays them, the interest will always be there. So he’s got some things to figure out now that he’s got one job, the same job he’s had for three years now at Mito Uzumaki’s restaurant. He has to think of a way to fix things before he sinks. He has some cushioning due to setting up an emergency fund with any extra cash he could spare throughout the last few years, but if that runs out he doesn’t know what he’d do.

But he’s not capable of thinking at the moment. His head is heavy and his eyes are trying harder and harder to stay open. He checks the time, just two more hours and then he can relax. Well not really. He still has to eat something so he isn’t starving in the middle of the night. Then shower, and sleep. He can relax then…when he’s unconscious. 

“Hashi!” Mito yells for him from the kitchen. She’s louder than usual and it pulls him out of whatever trance he’s in. She’s probably called for him at least twice and he didn’t answer.

“Yeah?” He answers walking over to her while rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes. It doesn’t help, and he suppresses the urge to yawn.

“Are you alright? I tried calling you a few times already.” She sounds concerned which is slightly unusual but in the state, he’s in he can kind of see why. He must look half dead.

“I’m fine, I’ll probably be better tomorrow though.” He will actually get more than 4 hours of sleep tomorrow since he got fired so that’s a start.

She studies him for a moment as if deciding what to say next. Then she just shakes her head as if she realizes what it is, but she’s not going to enlighten him about what that thing is. Instead, she goes to the topic at hand.

 

“Go home. I’ll close by myself for today. Take the day off tomorrow, it’s Saturday.” 

 

“It’s alright I can be here tomorrow,” Hashirama assures her. But he definitely shouldn’t be taking any days off now. It’s not like you get paid for hours not worked. Besides, Saturday is a pretty busy day for the restaurant, and on Sunday. He could probably make way more tips.

 

“You never take days off.” She says holding out her hand so he can hand her his apron, “Take the day, I’ll handle things here.”

 

She says it almost like it’s a choice but since she insisted it basically isn’t. Mito’s a good friend, so he doesn’t put up much of a fight. Besides, he really is tired. Going home early would be a blessing.

 

“Okay, but if you need me just call.” 

 

He doesn’t even know what he’d do with an entire day off. Doing absolutely nothing sounds pretty damn appealing right now.

 

“Don’t worry,” She waves him away after setting his apron on the hook, “I know you’re the best employee but I’m sure we can have one day without you.”

 

“Thank you.” He says, and she doesn’t answer. She’s not one to accept a thank you like that. She probably feels he deserves it so there’s nothing to thank her for.

 

Mito is older than him, though she won’t say by how much if he were to ask. She’d like to renovate her restaurant and make it something completely different than what it is currently. She’s always trying new things and trying to improve. Hopefully, with a renovation, she’ll be able to achieve her goals and aspirations. But that requires money and more business that she doesn’t have currently. 

 

This wasn’t Hashirama’s first job but it was certainly the best. He feels loyalty to her though and would like to help her achieve what she wants if he could. She let him stay even when he made countless mistakes at the beginning since he’s never worked at a restaurant before. 

 

She lets Tobirama stay in the restaurant to do homework or just to have a place to stay after school, she finds him kind of entertaining. There’s a bit of a similarity between them in the way they’d both act kind of snarky and sarcastic. Tobi likes to come after school if it’s not too full he’ll get a table instead of going to the back and eat the muffins or some other baked good that Mito’s baked that she hasn’t perfected quite yet. 

 

It’s an unconventional relationship between worker and boss so he’d find it hard to leave if the opportunity presented itself. But if he finally got a job that was related to his degree, he would finally say goodbye. But that wouldn’t mean they’d stop being friends, and he’s sure Tobi would still be welcome here. 

 

Hashirama texts Tobirama when he’s on his way to the apartment complex. 

 

I’m on my way home

 

Tobirama texts back quicker than he expected, shouldn’t he be sleeping? Though Hashirama texted first so if he wasn’t expecting an answer maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all.

 

That's early 

Did Mito finally fire you?

 

He laughs slightly because no he didn’t get fired from this job, but he did get fired from one earlier . Also, what does he mean by ‘finally’?! He’s a great worker!

 

What do you mean “finally”

What would Mito do without me?

 

Ur right

She’d just have to eat all of the extras herself.

 

I’m not a human dumpster

If anything, that’s you

Anyway she let me go back early

 

You probably were so tired you weren’t even a helpful employee anyway

 

I hate that you’re not wrong

Anyway you should go to sleep it’s late 

Don’t you have school in the morning

 

As if I actually go to sleep at this time

Also, it’s Saturday tmrw?! What r u on?

 

Mito literally just told him it was Saturday tomorrow and he should take off. He shakes his head at his own mistake. He really needs some damn sleep. His mind doesn’t even seem to be retaining basic information anymore. 

 

Walking up the stairs to his apartment is a struggle that he used to not have to endure. But the elevator broke two weeks ago and the landlord is being a cheap asshole and isn’t willing to get it fixed since it isn’t an “urgent problem.” There aren't any disabled people in the building so he doesn’t feel obligated to speed up the process, or even start it. Hashirama would complain about it if he knew who to complain to, and if he had time to figure it out. 

 

“Holy Fuck.” He curses as he gets to the 4th floor. There are two more flights, he’s never missed the elevator more. He doesn’t feel like taking another step…Maybe he should just lie down on the stairs… It probably wouldn’t be this hard if he wasn’t so tired. He forces himself up the stairs, mattresses are way better for sleep not these dirty steps. His future self will thank him.

 

Finally, he makes it to his door. The thick metal has to support his body as he leans against it, he needs just a second to catch his breath before he gets his keys. Two more weeks of this and maybe the stairs won’t be as hard to climb as Mount fucking Everest. 

 

“Took you a while.” Tobirama is in the kitchen once Hashirama opens the door. He speaks like he’s a villain turning his chair around to the hero. Theatrical little shit. 

 

“What are you doing in the kitchen in the dark?” Hashirama questions, turning on the light and seeing his brother in the light now. Sure there’s a small light by the counter, but it’s still a bit odd to him not using the much brighter overhead light. 

 

“I’m just getting some water,” Tobirama lifts the glass in his hand, half full. He’s covering his eyes with his hands like it burns him . “Did you seriously need to turn on all the lights, it’s so bright now.”

 

“Give me some of that,” Hashirama says ignoring his brother’s vampire attitude. 

 

Tobirama doesn’t take offense with how demanding Hashi is about it either. He passes him the glass when Hashirama puts his keys on the small table by the door, and his jacket on their coat rack. 

 

“Here,” Tobirama thinks maybe he should have just gotten him another glass entirely since Hashirama just drank it like he hasn’t had water in years. Like this is an oasis in a desert. It’s gone in an instant, and he realizes why. Oh right. 

 

“Yeah, the landlord still hasn’t fixed the elevator.” Tobirama comments, then adds, “..I don’t think he ever will.”

 

“He better. Tobi, if I have to do that for two more weeks, I might just die.” 

 

“You’ll be fine.”

 

Tobi shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly as if it’s not that hard to climb all those stairs. He goes to get Hashirama another glass of water with the look his brother gave him at that statement.

 

“Shut up, you should exaggerate your anemia to the landlord and maybe they’ll get it fixed faster.” 

 

Hashirama’s a bit upset, but also half-joking. But maybe that would work, the landlord seems to like Tobirama better than Hashirama anyhow. Maybe that’s because Tobi doesn’t bother him about the essential things that need fixing in their apartment. (Yeah no even if he milked it most likely the guy wouldn’t do anything anyway.)

“Or maybe he’ll find the shittiest contractor who’ll do a shitty ass job and the next time we ride in the elevator, we die.” A bit more anger than the amusement Hashirama had. Hashirama realizes he might have struck a nerve there. Also why does Tobirama curse so much like he just learned how? Hashirama stopped trying to restrict his behavior and learned it only made him want to do things more no matter what it was. 

 

“Okay okay,” He yawns and doesn’t even bother checking the time. “I’m going to sleep.”

 

“Aren’t you gonna shower?” 

 

“Who’s the older one here?” He knows that’s a rather childish and petty comment. He almost goes to ruffle his brother’s white hair to rub it in. But Tobirama absolutely despises that now, and Hashi knows that after he mentioned it, yeah he probably should shower.

 

He sighs his body is so exhausted. 

 

“Yeah I’m gonna shower, shut up.”

 

“Are you working tomorrow?” His brother asks, trying to hide his own feelings about it. 

 

“Actually no.” Hashirama smiles, now he wants to poke his brother, in a sorta oh you want me here kind of way. He restrains. Space, space, space. 

 

“So you’re taking a day off for once?” Damn, there was so much surprise in his voice. Hashirama knows has used a few sick days before…no way he works every Saturday right? 

 

“Mito gave me the day off.” He admits it’s not his decision.

 

“Of course.” Tobirama crosses his arms at that admittance. His brother couldn’t decide for himself to stay home even when he’s clearly so beat like today. 

 

 “I did tell her to call me in case she needs me.”

 

“Of course, you did that too.” Now he actually rolls his eyes, moving to end this conversation, “You smell like…coffee, and sweat.”

 

“Alright!” He didn’t need the specifics he knows he stinks. He heads off to the bathroom leaving Tobi in the kitchen. When Hashi showers it always has this quality of waking him up even if he’s dead tired like today. But also putting him into his thoughts. 

He does kind of hate when Tobirama acts like the older one. That’s his job, but he knows not to get too upset since it’s literally just his personality. Hashirama blames their dad for that. Their father left the country unexpectedly telling no one. He took deadbeat to the next level, leaving Tobi alone at 13 with barely any information about his mother as well. Hashirama knows next to nothing about Tobirama’s mother, and he knew how much of a restricted topic it was for them to speak about. 

 

So even though he was young and just graduated college he decided to take in his younger brother. 

 

There was no way he was going to allow Tobirama to head to an orphanage. So despite being probably an unfit candidate for the job he became Tobirama’s guardian in the eyes of the law. Being Tobi’s ‘father figure’ has been a difficult challenge to take up. He’s always just been the older brother who visited occasionally. Tobirama liked him but didn’t know him too well. But he can’t be worse than what their father would have been like if he stayed. He tries his best.

 

Soon after taking in Tobirama he managed to find an apartment, with fixed rent,  so at least the rent doesn’t go up and the location also is close to his little brother’s school. He’s glad he found a place with two rooms as well, they need their own space. If they didn’t have that he imagines that they’d get tired of each other pretty quickly. Or at least, he knows Tobirama would. It’s been two years now and honestly he expected this undertaking to be much much worse. 

The building really isn’t too bad. Once you take out the shitty landlord, and the fact that there are no good views whatsoever, and once a month they turn off the water for 24 hours for “maintenance”, it’s actually pretty good. 

 

Tobirama is 15 now, he’s always been kind of snarky, and way more pessimistic than Hashirama but it definitely could be worse. Tobi is smart, and a pretty good kid by teenager standards. But they have a 9 year age gap. Hashirama wasn’t a teenager that long ago, but it wasn’t exactly that recent either. So understanding his brother can be a bit difficult and he finds himself resorting to being an older brother more often than being a father figure. Even when times require him to act as a parent. 

 

He knows now that he can’t really work two jobs at once, so he has to cut down on some things. Meaningless luxuries and more necessities. Not that he indulges in luxuries that often but now it definitely has to be even less. Maybe less take out to start. He has more time not to at least try to cook anyway.

 

Hashirama doesn’t remember when he fell asleep. He showered and got dressed suddenly his memory resumed the next day. He slept for 10 hours, and he only woke up because he was hungry and he smelled something delicious.

 

He figured he must have been dreaming still because if he’s not cooking who is?

 

“What’s that?” Hashirama says his thoughts aloud when he sees Tobirama over the stove and it looks like…

 

“I’m making bacon,” Tobi answers as if he cooks all the time.

 

“You never cook.” Hashirama points out. 

 

“So? It’s just bacon that’s super easy. Literally one ingredient.” 

 

Hashirama gasps rather dramatically, “Why are you cooking? Is it my last day alive?” 

 

“Shut up.” Tobirama elbows him but doesn’t move from the stove, he’s now started cracking eggs. He doesn’t need to ask to know Hashirama wants them scrambled. 

 

“Hey!” He exaggerates how much that hurts. It makes his brother smile though. 

 

“Pancakes too!!” He exclaims and puts a hand on his forehead like he’s a damsel about to faint. 

 

Tobirama ignores his older brother in favor of starting to cook the pancakes as well. The bacon had only a few minutes left. 

 

When Tobirama flips the pancakes and that’s definitely harder than putting them in the pan initially. They aren’t even circles, they're more like ovals but Hashirama definitely doesn’t care. When he flipped the first one, it slid a bit and batter gets on the side of the pan and everything. The last one flips perfectly so he’s gotten good at it in a short time. 

 

“It’s Mito’s recipe. Blame her if they’re bad.” Tobirama says when the pancakes are done and all on one plate.

He definitely would not blame Mito if they’re bad. He would blame Tobi if they’re bad, he cooked them. But honestly, he would not let his little brother know if they were terrible. He’d eat them anyway. Tobirama never cooks he’s not going to discourage this even if it’s absolutely terrible.

 

“You asked her for the recipe?” 

 

“Yeah, she gave me her recipe, and she said it’s also on her website,” Tobirama says, pulling out an index card, red ballpoint pen in what could only be Mito’s handwriting. Instead of dotting the I’s in her letters, she makes a slash making it look like an accent. She always writes like she’s in a rush. Likely a side effect of her job. T’s curling up and over utilizing a single line so she wouldn’t have to lift her pen.

“She has a website?!” This is the first he’s heard about it. They have a website for the restaurant, but it doesn’t have any recipes on it. So she has her own?

 

“Yeah, she has her own cooking blog—How do you work for her and not know?” 

 

Tobirama looks surprised now almost appalled at the fact Hashirama is surprised. He just shrugs at that. Mito never mentioned it and he doesn’t think of a situation that would have come up for him to ask. Or maybe she did mention it, and he was too tired to retain the information. It's been a long couple of months okay?

 

“Okay, everything’s done,” Tobirama says uncharacteristically happy about it as he plates the pancakes, bacon and eggs for himself and Hashirama. 

 

“You know I suppose there’s a lot of things about Mito you haven’t noticed.” Again with his “I know all” tone.

 

“Like what? Oh, wise one,” Hashirama says sarcastically but it rolls right off Tobi’s shoulders. 

 

“The fact she kept you for so long because you bring in customers.” That simple sentence to Tobi is apparently the only explanation Hashirama needs but he needs more to figure out what that means exactly. 

 

“How do I bring in customers?” He asks genuinely. Now it’s Tobi’s turn to be dumbfounded but it’s not at the fact of his own misinformation, it’s about Hashirama’s lack of information altogether. 

 

Tobirama looks at him as though to say, ‘Are you serious right now?’ 

 

“You’re a man—with long hair.” He says vaguely, rolling his wrist in a gesture, hopefully, Hashirama will reach the conclusion he’s trying to guide him to. Unfortunately, Hashirama doesn’t get the meaning or whatever his brother is insinuating.

 

Tobirama facepalms himself at his brother's naivety.

 

“You are attractive to people!” He spells it out clearly. Hashirama’s realization kicks in but it also comes in with a bit of disbelief.

 

“You seriously think that’s why she didn’t fire me at first?” Hashirama doesn’t believe his brother for a second. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

He cuts into his pancake with the side of his fork, gesturing to it once he takes a bite, and with a mouth half-full he says, “This is pretty good.”

 

The more he eats the sentence becomes really good. 

 

“I know I followed the recipe.” Tobirama still has his arrogance, but Hashirama knows he didn’t know this would come out perfect since he said blame Mito if they were bad. He’s sidetracked for a second then goes to the topic before, “I have seen you at the restaurant, you get more tips than anyone else, and people are always flirting with you. Ask Mito, she’ll tell you.”

 

Hashirama definitely doesn’t want to ask to prove this true. But with the way, Tobi said that he kind of wants to know for sure now. But this whole thing is utterly ridiculous. What goes through his brother’s head to make those sort of assumptions.

 

“I don’t think Mito finds me attractive Tobi.” He chuckles because a development like that would not be well-received. Mito is just a good friend. Also, he’s pretty sure she has a girlfriend anyway although her girlfriend doesn’t come by the restaurant that often.

 

“You don’t need to be straight to find somebody attractive. She’s got two eyes,” It takes Hashirama a second to connect the dots. 

 

“What, have you been like keeping tabs on my boss?” He says jokingly.

 

“No, she’s just cool. She told me to pick the fonts and colors for her website update a while back.”

 

“She never told me this.” 

 

“Yeah cause you would have used Arial .” The 'like a weirdo' is implied.

 

“What?” He asks feeling in the unknown. Clearly unknowledgeable in the many facets of typography.

 

“Nevermind that,” Tobirama waves it off not wanting to get into that at the moment. Hashirama would have definitely chosen something basic like Arial or Georgia anyway.  Although it doesn’t take a genius to know Comic Sans is horrendous. 

 

“Point is, just don’t let people use you. I’m not saying Mito is—I mean she kind of is, but she cares about you too at least.” 

 

“You always do that.”

 

“Do what?”

 

Act like the older one or talk like you are older than you are. 

 

“Nothing, are you gonna finish those?” He says, gesturing to Tobi’s pancakes with his fork. Hashirama’s pancakes were already finished and he was eager for more. He kind of hopes there’s more batter cause he could’ve eaten more they were good.

 

“You can have it,” Tobirama hands him two pancakes he hasn’t eaten, and Hashirama takes them gladly. “I didn’t make a lot of batter.” 

 

Breakfast together is a rare occurrence. After they’re both done and the kitchen is cleaned, Hashirama picks up a bit considering it was kind of a mess in their apartment. It was nice getting to have your own time and move at your own pace. Hashirama wishes he didn’t have every Saturday at work and maybe they’d have more days to talk at the table in the morning. 

 

Too bad such moments are fleeting.

 

🞛

 

His Saturday is gone in an instant, and soon enough he’s up early in the morning on Sunday. No pancakes in the morning this time. Now the day before really feels like a dream. 

 

The shift on Sunday is relatively slow. Usually, the weekend is busy since people have time to go to the restaurant. He is kind of grateful for the lack of business today. Gives him time to do absolutely nothing. It’s great. 

 

He leans on the counter, his forearms on the surface of the gray laminate, as he spins the ballpoint pen in his hand. He’s kind of bored but this is definitely preferable to a busy day.

 

He takes out the notepad he uses to write down orders and starts to sketch one of his various plants in the apartment from memory. The hanging plant by the window. 

 

Some of them are dying at the moment. Tobirama is effectively banned from watering any of the houseplants after he killed three of them. Hashirama has dubbed him “planticidal.” Tobi just responded saying he was being ridiculous and that wasn’t a real word. Hashi said he would advocate for the creation of that new word just for him. 

 

Mito peers over his shoulder, the place was empty so she wasn’t about to scold him for lounging around since there’s literally nothing to do at the moment. She’s wiped down every surface more than she needs to in an urge to move this nervous energy elsewhere.

“You know you should really put numbers on the tables.” Hashirama says absentmindedly when Mito comes over to him continuing to sketch on the page. She sits on the countertop next to him while he stays leaning against it. 

 

“Why? You know the numbers. And I’m not hiring anyone new anytime soon.” She closes her eyes, putting her head back stretching slightly. 

 

“Yeah I know. It would still help if there were numbers, you’ve rearranged the place like 5 times this year.”  He almost mutters that last bit, Mito doesn’t comment on it thinking in her head about what she could possibly change about this place next. She’s pulled out of that visual when the doorbell rings loudly. Off the counter in an instant and kicking Hashirama in the ankle with no force.

 

A lone customer walks in. He grabs Hashirama’s attention more than Mito’s kick did and he can safely say it’s not just because he’s the only person here. 

 

It felt like that moment in a movie where the love interest walks in and completely grabs the main characters attention. Though Hashirama feels that this is not a love story, he is not the main character, and even if he was, his story would be pretty uninteresting considering how boring his life was going right about now. 

 

The first thing he notices is his hair, it’s long . Hashirama’s own hair is long too, but his is wild. It’s black and closer to curly than it is to Hashirama’s pin straight hair. The man carries himself confidently, in such a way that only a man with a purpose and confidence would. His clothes are form-fitting and he knows not only does he have a sense of style, he also works out.  Someone like that takes pride in his appearance, it’s really appealing. All observations lead to a simple conclusion, he’s hot . 

 

The man’s eyes lead to him. Gaze lingering for a few seconds and Hashirama looks away realizing he was staring. Then his eyes catch Mito’s–she’s smirking . She must have seen that entire thing. He’s so unintentionally embarrassing but it makes for great entertainment it seems. So maybe he would be entertaining. But not for a romance, for a comedy maybe. People could laugh at his own expense. 

 

The customer takes a seat, and Hashirama has to force his feet to move to greet him. It’s his job after all, but he’d much prefer looking at this guy from afar before approaching. Like scouting out for danger because there’s always a bit of it with someone as confident as that. He’s a bit tense from the sheer embarrassment of having been caught staring at a customer by his boss. Hopefully, the person he was staring at didn’t take offense. 

 

The man chose a small table which makes Hashirama infer it’s only him today. Maybe he’ll be able to better observe his behavior in close proximity like this. 

 

“Sorry for the delay as you can see we are pretty busy here,” Hashirama says as a joke to lighten the mood. Really it’s kind of a nervous reaction to distract himself from the past two minutes. He’s hot he’s hot he’s hot—

 

“Really? It’s no problem, I can wait.” The man doesn’t smile exactly, but he’s pretty amused by Hashirama’s attempt at a joke. He’ll take that as a win. 

 

“What can I get you?” 

 

He’s doing his best to sound as confident as possible. He doesn’t want to appear nervous in front of this man. He usually isn’t nervous at all, talking to people every day who are likely strangers definitely doesn’t bother him. He’d go as far as to say he’s sociable and meeting new people isn’t necessarily a problem, but he’s just a bit off today around this stranger it seems. His body is warm, is that what people mean when they’re hot he never thought it literally —

 

“I’ll just have a coffee for now.” He says and Hashirama is glad it’s not complicated because he accidentally left his notepad back at the counter. Half-finished garbage plant sketch and all. 

 

“Sure, right away,” he answers quickly but some part of him wants to linger a bit longer. He doesn’t though and goes to make the man’s cup of coffee. 

It’s midday, the coffee brewer was cleaned already after this morning so this man will be getting a fresh cup. It’s kind of annoying but he has to do it. Besides, Hashirama likes to say the first fresh cup is always the best and everyone else replies it’s the same batch and that it doesn’t matter.

 

As the coffee brewer churns, he looks at the man he just spoke to. His eyes linger on the long hair he just can’t seem to tear his face away from it. He wonders why he has his hair so long? Is there a particular reason or does he just like it that way? Either way, Hashirama finds himself wanting to know. He’s suddenly really curious. Not just about his hair either, but what does he do? He looks pretty interesting, what job would this person have?

 

He’s also got slightly tan skin, Hashirama himself is a bit darker. No one ever thinks he and Tobirama are brothers, due to the fact they share absolutely none of the same features. Tobirama has pale skin, red eyes, and white hair. Pretty much the exact opposite of Hashirama himself, with his tan complexion, long brown hair, and dark brown eyes. 

 

The man is on his phone now, does he have a job he likes? Or does he slave away constantly? He seems to be pretty well endowed, did he make it all himself? Or was he fortunate enough to be born with wealth? What is he doing here anyway? At this time? In this place? Was it just convenient for him to come here? Most likely. So does he work nearby? Who is he? 

“Coffee’s done Hashi,” Mito says. He didn’t even hear it stop pouring. “Stop daydreaming.”

 

“I’m not daydreaming—“ He totally wasn’t daydreaming. More like staring at a hot customer while waiting for the coffee to brew and then forgetting about said coffee entirely. 

 

“You’re staring like you were when he got here.” She points out, and he’s slightly embarrassed but not as much as initially. He’s gorgeous just look at him . She won’t get it though. “I wouldn’t normally give any unsolicited advice but just shoot your shot man.”

 

“Wait what?—“

 

“Yeah he came in here a different day and was totally looking at you but you were probably too busy to notice he was even here. ( How? ) You know when you’re working you’re either tired as fuck or you’re like a machine tuning out everything except the task at that moment. It’s why you’re my best worker by the way.”

 

She just threw that in there. 

 

“Uh, thanks?” He wasn’t used to the acknowledgment, especially not one that was very passive. 

 

“Just talk to him!” She says, and not only does Hashirama look very hesitant, he looks at her like she’s crazy to even think about telling him to approach this man about something other than the coffee. She tries to assuage his concerns.

 

“Listen Hashi, no one in their right mind comes for the goddamn coffee here. If they did, it wouldn’t be at this time either. So either he’s fucking insane, or he likes you.”

 

“I’m betting on crazy.” 

 

“You’re hopeless,” She pushes him to the floor out of the kitchen and hands him the man’s coffee.

 

  “Talk to him!” She whisper-yells at him when he’s only a few feet away.

 

Hashirama is definitely not going to do that.

“Here’s your coffee sir,” he places the coffee on the table. Not planning on doing anything else but be absolutely professional, “Anything else?”

 

He will not allow himself to be swayed by Mito’s words, nor his own curiosity at the possibility. He’s just the waiter. Not Hashirama who is completely interested in this man right now. 

 

“Yeah, can you tell me your name?” 

 

Mito once made a suggestion that everyone get name tags but no one cared enough to put them back on after washing the aprons. It’s not like customers called them by their names anyway, in fact if they did that might even be scary. In this moment he wished the name tag idea didn’t fall through so the man could just read and he wouldn’t have to have an opening. 

 

“…Hashirama.” Giving it a second before he answers. But maintaining his composure all the same. “Senju.”

 

Maybe Mito was right and this guy was checking him out when Hashirama wasn’t looking at him, but that didn’t mean he had to shoot his shot or whatever.

 

“Uhm what’s your name?” He hates the way he sounds as he automatically asks that. 

 

He should attempt to stay professional but he can’t find a reason to just abandon the conversation. Especially when no one else is here, the man knows he isn’t busy. He’s sure Mito’s watching him, even if she’s pretending not to. She’s honestly probably not even pretending.

 

“Madara.” He says, then gives a last name in addition, “Madara Uchiha.”

 

If that name was supposed to spark any recognition, Hashirama did not recognize it. 

 

“As for anything else I need…Would you sit with me? I’m sure you could spare a few minutes.” 

 

There’s clear amusement in his voice. It’s not busy. At all. 

 

“Well my boss is a strict woman—“ Hashirama starts but Mito interrupts. Now he knows she was clearly eavesdropping but pretending to clean tables.

 

“Don’t lie Hashi!” She says making him close his eyes out of shock and embarrassment. He doesn’t want to see the look on Madara’s face. He wasn’t even lying, she is strict! Sometimes. 

 

“Seems like she approves.” He says, and Hashirama swears that the amusement grew larger by the second. He’s also sure his own face is red, flaming in fact. Why is Mito getting involved?! The last time she tried to set him up failed miserably. 

 

“Hashi…” Madara whispers his name, but he’s not saying it to Hashirama, it’s more like he’s just repeating what Mito had said with a sort of wonder. Then he speaks to Hashirama, “That nickname, it’s cute.”

 

His voice, it’s hot. 

 

Hashirama definitely did not picture that he could be attracted to a voice. But the face attached to the voice definitely helped matters a bit. Madara was hot, a closer look directly in front of him confirms that. As if his initial impression already didn’t. 

 

But what is this that he’s doing right now? Sitting with a customer. Is this man truly interested, or does he take joy in watching Hashirama get flustered and a little bothered?

 

Which is it, and why can’t he tell? 

 

Hashirama is usually better at knowing people's intentions. He usually has little to no proof of his feelings but going with his gut seems to fair well. 

 

His brother is the complete opposite, willing to only form opinions when he has solid evidence of their behavior. A very, ‘actions speak louder than words’ type. Hashirama can respect that but he knows actions can also be just as deceitful as words. 

 

“I used to hate the nickname but that only made my brother call me by it more often.”

 

“You have a brother?” There’s no mistaking some sort of surprise or delight reaction in Madara’s eyes.

 

“Yes, a younger one. He’s 15.” Hashirama doesn’t know why he was so willing to just share personal details like that. Madara is a stranger. He only has his name and a vague impression of his personality. 

 

“I had a younger brother,” Madara says, giving personal information just as quickly as it seems. “He’d be about 19 now, so older than your brother. How old are you by the way?” 

 

Hashirama doesn’t ask for specifics. Although it did spark more questions he found it too soon to ask them considering they were too personal and they had literally just met. So he skips to the last part.

 

Hashirama realizes Madara is probably asking his age just to make sure he’s legal. Hashi knows he doesn’t look like a child at all. He definitely doesn't look like a high school student or anything. He figures Madara is covering all the bases. 

 

“I’m 24.” 

 

“I’m 28,” That seems to catch him by surprise. Madara does look older and more sophisticated than him though so maybe it shouldn’t be. 

 

“Hashirama,” He says, his voice dragging it out a bit slowly. Hashirama wonders if he knows what he’s doing. Does he know? “Can you pass me the sugar?” 

“Sure.” Fuck he hesitated for a second cause he was thinking about what he saying. But not so much what he was saying, more like how he was saying it.

 

This is not good, not good at all.

 

This isn’t the first time he’s felt the pull of attraction. Thought this was definitely the quickest. By far. What was it about him?

 

Madara Uchiha. Yep, he definitely hasn’t heard that name before.

 

“What’s your job?” Hashirama asks, feeling no longer obligated to act as a server. It feels more like a coffee date, but only one of them has coffee, and there’s no one else here. 

 

“I’m a business consultant,” Madara answers as if he’s said it to many people many times. Although Hashirama has absolutely no idea what that entails.

 

“Sounds interesting,” Hashirama says, being nice about it. He doesn’t actually know if it’s interesting at all. Probably isn’t.

 

“No it doesn’t,” Madara says, and then Hashirama has to stifle a laugh. It’s only been a couple of minutes but this man is easy to like already.

 

“So…what brings you here, especially at this time.”

 

“I had some unexpected free time so I came here.” 

 

“Totally unexpectedly?” Hashirama pushes. He hardly knows him but he already gets this vague sense that this man likes to have things planned. Especially with how put together he seems on the outside. 

 

“Totally unexpectedly,” Madara answers, quickly affirming it. 

 

“You know out of everyone who comes here, you’re already one of the most interesting.” 

 

“Not the most?” 

 

“Hardly,” Hashirama’s got a mean streak it seems as he looks the man up and down. Pretending to judge suits him, because Madara moves to lean in just a little bit closer. The man hasn’t even touched his coffee. 

 

Suddenly, he feels more relaxed. Knowing he wasn’t the only one interested truly does wonders for his confidence levels. 

 

“Tell me about you then, since I’m not that interesting,” Madara says almost like he’s complaining, but he’s not. It’s a game, give me more than what you get from me really. It’s not a malicious tactic, but it is a tactic nonetheless. 

 

“I’m just a waiter,” Hashirama’s answer is again quick, he hardly gave it any thought at all. What could he say about himself that would interest the other man?

 

“Hardly,” Madara’s pushing a bit now using the same tone. But it’s less mean and Hashirama likes the attention. 

 

“Well I have a college degree. I admit my degree probably wasn’t that good if I wanted to make money but I was young and I wasn’t really thinking about it.”

 

“What’s your degree in?”

 

Hashirama takes a second but decides to answer somewhat truthfully.

 

“Environmental Science.”

 

“You’re a scientist?” He asks. 

 

Madara somewhat assumes, but the answer only piqued his interest in Hashirama, he’s smart. He knew he was smart, but he’s smarter than he thought, already having a degree and it’s in a science field. Why is he working here? He’s not judging, simply just surprised.

 

“Clearly not, I'm a waiter,” Hashirama says a bit bitterly, “I need a job in the meantime to pay my loans. It seems there aren’t too many options for someone like me.” 

 

Why was he going into it so quickly they just met. 

 

“It doesn’t seem like you’re particularly happy about that.” 

 

“I…am content,” Hashirama doesn’t quite want to admit his situation, that he’s actually dirt poor , and his student loans aren’t much to laugh at, and he’s not working paycheck to paycheck but he might have to be soon without his second job anymore. Shit’s pretty bleak right now to be looking at attaining his Master’s which is what he wanted. “I have more important obligations at the moment.”

 

“I’m sure you’ll find someway to figure it out, you don’t seem like someone who will give up.” For some reason, encouragement from a stranger like him actually did make Hashirama feel a bit better. If only for a second.

 

Hashirama hasn’t really been looking for jobs as frequently as before. Constant rejection is a bummer. He was at least hoping to get internship with the knowledge he does have. But no luck. His degree was also a bit too niche and he doesn’t have enough qualifications for what he wants to do. He should have done something more general and maybe he wouldn’t be in this predicament now. 

 

Follow your dreams, they said. 

 

He has too many thoughts of what he should have done better, and none of it can help him in the present. He just has to work with what he has.

 

He does have the limitation of only looking for jobs in the area as well since he’s not about to move and upend his brother’s life. 

“Thank you, I hope you’re right,” Hashirama says, those words of encouragement even from a stranger were still nice.

 

“I’d like to talk to you again,” Madara says, his phone pings and Hashirama assumes he has to go now.

 

“I’d like to as well,” Madara gets up and then Hashirama has an idea. 

 

Before Madara can go out the door, he gets his notepad, quickly writing his number on the first piece of paper. 

 

“Here,” He says, handing Madara the slip of paper, “That’s my number…uh call me, or text me—whatever, if you want.”

 

Great, he’s getting all shy now? It’s because he made a move. But it’s also exciting too. He really hopes Madara uses it. He told himself he wouldn’t look for any relationship, he didn’t have the time, but maybe he could find someone to talk to regularly, and Madara seemed interesting. Hashirama didn’t want this to be their only encounter.

 

“Thank you,” Madara says, thinking for only a second with his eyes on Hashirama, “I’ll talk to you.” 

 

Hashirama doesn’t say anything but he's really giddy about it. 

 

When he leaves the restaurant is once again empty. They only spoke for around twenty minutes but it already made his day. Someone was interested in him, spoke to him, and it was a short conversation but it came with the promise of more later, so it’s pretty good if you look at it that way.

 

Mito comes over to him, eager to hear how it went.

 

“So…?”

 

“I gave him my number.”

 

“And…”

 

“He said he’d talk to me later.”

 

“Nice! Good move to give him your number!” She sounds like an excited fangirl.

 

“I know!” He says just as excited.

 

“I hope it’s not busy the rest of the day.”

 

“I’m docking your pay if you say that again.” She warns but it’s not true.

 

“I hope the restaurant is full the rest of the day.” He corrects blandly.

 

“Good.”

 

After that, a slow trickle of people comes in for the lunch rush, and Hashirama is back to being busy. But his mind is still occupied by Madara Uchiha for the rest of the day.

Notes:

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 2: Water and Sunlight

Summary:

Madara calls Hashirama and they go on their date.

Deciding to work from home was one of the best decisions Madara had ever made. He never liked the stuffiness of the office, and he definitely wasn’t too fond of dressing in uncomfortable business casual and certainly not the fake niceties that often occurred in day-to-day interactions with people. So he decided to make the move and work from home when the idea suddenly hit him like an epiphany that he could do that. 

 

He thought he would lose clientele with this change, but actually, it was the opposite. His name was still a recognizable one, Uchiha being slightly prestigious even if the fortune wasn’t attached to him. His own reputation for success was enough to cushion the change. He was even able to fit more clients when he changed to mostly online calls. Whenever clients wanted to see him in person for whatever reason, the meets accommodated his schedule, and the location varied. (Typically over wine since Madara always appreciated the finer things.)

 

This change actually increased urgency because Madara was able to show that he values his own time more than that of his clients no matter who they were. Caring less about the time of others despite the fact that he needed to get paid seemed to increase the importance and he got taken more seriously. Just when he was starting to feel a bit of a dick with all of these changes, restrictions and omissions, and denials, someone came along who met all of them and could afford it. He could also proportionally lower his rates considering there was no longer an office to pay for. If he knew this would be the outcome, he would have done this much sooner.

 

People took him even more seriously in proportion to how he did.

There was no need to commute to the office which he was glad for, it allowed him to wake up later. Although there were so many upsides to working from home now, there were still a couple of downsides as well. Staying home was great and all, but when it also became where you worked, it was just slightly feeling more and more like a prison if he didn’t go outside. 

 

Madara found happiness in various things. Exercise was one of them, it used to be a task he did only out of obligation, but soon found he actually did like it, and working out every day did make him feel happier overall. His apartment’s office had just enough space to fit a treadmill, and he finds the time to use it every day. He definitely was not going to pay for a gym membership, since those felt like a scam, and he wasn’t a fan of working out with other people around. 

 

He ran around his neighborhood for exercise when he felt like it. Sometimes he’d see the occasional double take from people looking at him. Whether it was because they admired his features or maybe they noticed his long hair, he’ll never know. 

 

There was nothing outwardly feminine about Madara. The closest thing was his hair and sometimes it was so uncooperative and wild that he’d contemplate cutting it all off. But he never got around to doing it feeling a bit like that was a huge change he wasn’t willing to commit to at this point in time. He likes his hair, and feels attached to it and when it gets in his way he finds it’s easier to just tie it up. If he ties it up and wears a hat, it makes his hair look much shorter. 

 

He also liked the fact that his father said it was ridiculous for a man to have long hair. So it made him want to have long hair even more to spite him. Why couldn’t he? Hair didn’t have to be long for one gender. It ended up becoming a part of him. Any stares he got were of no importance. They could judge or approve if they wanted it didn’t really matter to him one way or another. 

 

Madara simply lived comfortably, not in excess but not in need of anything either. His job was not strenuous, and he made enough money to afford his place and any other needs and even luxuries. He didn’t like to live in excess considering he couldn’t sustain that kind of lifestyle and if he wanted it he’d have to work way more and he was fine with where he was at now. 

 

Madara would say he’s perfectly content with his life as it is now. 

 

But sometimes he’d see couples on TV, or just in the street, and just…he’d wonder later that day in that bed of his if there’d ever be anyone who he could share all of this with. It almost gets lonely when he’s experiencing something and has no one to tell. No one to come home too. This life he has, it’s not overly full of abundance but it’s more than enough for just him, and he gets lonely occasionally. 

 

He found it difficult to start relationships and become attached to them. It was like there was a mental block in his brain preventing him from being with people. The men and even women he had tried to be with just weren’t able to break through. Online dating was always a shitfest and never ended well for him. It was becoming a little bit exhausting actually. 

 

He’s not exactly old, but he was tired of that kind of dating life. He was looking for something long-term and flings were not appealing. Call him traditional, or a romantic, but he did want that kind of love everyone else spoke about. 

 

So he stopped looking and figured his chance would come eventually. Maybe forcing it wasn’t the answer? Perhaps it’s like when you’re looking for something, and can never find it, but the minute you forget and don’t need it, it winds up somewhere. But Madara isn’t one to leave things to chance, not by nature, so it was a little hard for him to stop pursuing completely. Leaving things to chance was going to be his last resort, which he was about to do but it turns out, chance favored him when he saw Hashirama. 

 

About seven minutes away from his apartment is one of those old restaurants that have been here longer than he’s been alive. It’s not an expensive place which was great. He's not about to spend an excessive amount of money unnecessarily or go to an upscale restaurant when there really is no occasion for that. He doesn’t have endless funds after all. 

 

The interior is kind of quaint, and it has a sort of vintage feel to it. The food was better than average for a place like this anyway. Though, he could care less about the food because there was this guy who worked there that Madara just couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of.

 

He feels a bit weird about it, only coming to this place to see this particular waiter.  The man hasn’t been his server, so Madara doesn’t even know what he sounds like, or just how tall he is in comparison to his own height. Since he’s sitting down most of the time, and unless they’re standing near or next to each other it’s hard for him to guess.

When one of his clients cancels a meeting they have to pay a fee for wasting his damn time. It’s a hefty one, but he’s sure all his clients can pay it. It’s not as expensive as the actual payment they get for his review of what they want, but it’s something. So when a client cancels he’s never actually mad about it, having gained free time and basically free money anyway. 

 

As his father always said, “Make your money work for you.” It’s something that’s been drilled into his head forever. Unwillingly.

 

Madara sees an opportune time to go to the diner, since it’s not far, he has free time now and he kind of wants to see if that man is there. Maybe if he’s lucky he is working there today, and he’d even be his server. That would give him an opportunity. Okay so maybe he wasn’t entirely leaving things to chance, and was going to pursue…just a little bit.

 

Apparently, he’s not just lucky because there is absolutely no one there. Well it is before lunch, and this place isn’t really known for brunch so people who want that would probably go somewhere else nearby. Rebranding this place would do some good for their business honestly. Madara can kind of already see it but it’s really not his problem. He’s not in work mode at this point in time.

 

“Sorry for the delay as you can see we are pretty busy here.”

 

The smile that he gives is just so…

 

He’s very handsome.

 

Madara is easily attracted. 

 

“Really? It’s no problem, I can wait.” Madara says as if he’s taking it seriously though what he said was clearly a joke.

 

“What can I get you?” The man’s pretty confident, and Madara definitely likes that. 

 

He’s not hungry at the moment, especially since he came unexpectedly. He’s only really here for one reason.

 

“I’ll just have a coffee for now.” The coffee from here is decent so he decides on that. He already had his morning fix of coffee so he doesn’t actually need or want any. It would be weird if he didn’t order anything though. 

 

“Sure, right away,” He goes to the back, and Madara watches, pretending not to see him talking to the red headed woman. 

 

He can’t hear what they’re saying, but they look almost as though they’re playfully bickering about something. They are obviously coworkers but is she his boss? Are they in a relationship? 

 

Madara doesn’t think so but he hopes that’s not just his wishful thinking talking.

 

“Here’s your coffee sir,” the waiter walks to the table, placing the cup of coffee down gently. The hands this man has…that’s strange he’s never particularly been one to actively think of pretty hands before.

 

 “Anything else?”

 

Madara doesn't fail to notice how his eyes linger on him too long. There’s a look in his eyes and it gives away that he’s a bit nervous right now despite how his voice sounds, calm and collected. 

 

“Yeah, can you tell me your name?” Madara decides to make it easy for him. 

 

He learns a few things about the man who was a stranger only a second ago. He now has a name, Hashirama . Madara does feel a little odd coming here with the sole purpose of wanting to speak to him, though he’s not regretting it for a second since it worked. It’s not like he did anything wrong…he was just curious about him. And yes, attracted. Because he could see quite well and this man was an unreal sort of attractive. 

 

Madara was dramatic on most days, and this was no different. Hashirama looked like the embodiment of an angel. The slight tilt of his head when he’d speak, the way his hair was, smooth and shiny. Clearly very healthy. He knew women must envy the way his hair was. It was seemingly effortless too.

 

 He had it up right now, and he must have been working for a while because there was a bit of a tired look in his eyes, but it was more likely that it was an excess of tiredness, not attributed to one night’s of lost sleep, but many. But Hashirama still managed to humor him all the same, which Madara appreciated even more once he noticed. 

 

Talking to Hashirama was plesant, Hashirama was polite, though Madara knows of course he’s probably adopting a certain persona considering he’s at work. But nonetheless it didn’t feel like he was forcing his words, or saying things to be deliberately entertaining.  Maybe it was just his pretty face, but Madara truly hung onto every word he said.

 

Their conversation continued longer than Madara assumed it would. Especially since he had simply ordered a coffee. He thought he’d be lucky enough to get a name, but he found himself exponentially more curious about Hashirama as the seconds passed. Madara was careful not to drink all of the coffee throughout the conversation since he wanted to drag it out as long as he could. He feared Hashirama would leave as soon as he was done. 

 

Madara found it nice that he didn’t have to talk into specifics about work, he could listen to this man’s voice and see his face more clearly now.

 

“Here,” He says, handing Madara the slip of paper, “That’s my number…uh call me, or text me—whatever, if you want.”

 

Madara knew he would undoubtedly take Hashirama up on that offer. 

The very next day, Hashirama received a call from Madara. It came as a surprise and not only because he momentarily forgot he gave his number away when he answered the phone. The call came on his lunch break, coincidentally. He almost hung up the phone automatically since scam calls really have been coming after him these days. Something about insurance, another regarding a car he doesn’t own, and an overdue hospital bill for a stay he didn’t have. Don’t they know he really doesn’t have much money to be scammed out of anyway? 

 

Blocking the numbers hardly helped, so it became an instant annoyance whenever he saw an “Unknown” contact call his phone. As a result, when he picks up the phone, he’s slightly annoyed and irritated which wasn’t really what he wanted to get across to the person who was on the other end.

 

“Hello?” He picks up expecting the robotic voice of a telemarketer perhaps.

 

“Here I was excited to call you,” The voice, it’s that particular low voice that Hashirama instantaneously remembers.

 

“It’s you!” He says, and of fucking course , Mito had to be walking by when he said that. His face and tone gave him away easily. He shoos her away as she gives him a knowing, and teasing smile. He brings a finger to his lips in a silent gesture to tell her to be quiet. 

 

“Yes, have you forgotten me already? I guess I was less interesting to you than I thought.” Madara pretends to be hurt, and Hashirama laughs.

 

“I didn’t forget. Sorry, I was expecting someone else,” He says, skipping over it very quickly, “I also wasn’t expecting you to call so soon.”

 

Isn’t there a sort of silent rule to when you give your number out? Do you call the next day? Or do you sit on it, and keep the other person waiting? Make it seem like you’re less available than you actually are or whatever? Hashirama doesn’t care to know those types of things. Even though he feels like he should at his age, and he’s super glad Madara doesn’t seem to care whether Hashirama knows he’s interested. It’s pretty refreshing.

 

It almost seems like Madara is going out of his way to let Hashirama know he’s interested. Playing a guessing game would be the last thing he wants to deal with right now and Madara seems to know which signals to send that are the right ones. 

 

“I was hoping to see you again, are you free anytime this week?” Madara asks and Hashirama thinks, visualizing his calendar in his mind even though he doesn’t have to. He’s definitely not free, and any time spent at home would most likely be dedicated to sleeping, cleaning, cooking, or looking for a second–but part-time – job.

 

“How does the afternoon on Thursday sound?”

 

“Thursday? Perfect,” Madara says, and there’s almost a smile attached to the answer as well even though Hashirama can’t see him he likes to think that it’s there, “Are you working right now? Sorry to keep you.”

 

“Technically I’m on lunch right now, so your call had perfect timing,”

 

Hashirama likes to think that the perfect coincidence was some divine intervention to get him a fucking boyfriend for the first time in forever. 

 

“Glad to hear it. What time do you want to meet on Thursday?”

 

“How does 1 pm sound…?” He looks to Mito who– no she has not stopped listening – holds up two fingers, “No actually uh–2 pm.” 

 

“Yeah two sounds good,” Madara agrees. 

 

“Great, see you then, I have to go right about now, but you ever want to call again, my break is usually around this time,” Hashirama mentions, and he can’t help the smile on his face. He doesn’t even care that Mito is listening.

 

“Alright, I’m looking forward to it,” Madara answers as cordially as ever, and then their call is over. Mito attacks as soon as he hangs up the phone.

 

“Not you making dates when you have work,” She scolds light-heartedly in an almost sisterly-like manner. 

 

“Not you listening to the call with my date!” He says back, and she throws him a rag to wipe off the counter with. He sprays the countertop with the faint lemon-scented disinfectant wiping it as he speaks to her.

 

“I gave you a time you could go didn’t I? You would have had to reschedule had I not been listening,” She says, and he doesn’t exactly argue with that, “Take this to table 5.” 

 

She hands him a tray, and he gets back into the flow of work, it’s nice being fully rested. He’s in a way more joyful mood than before now that he isn’t so tired and even has a date planned. Damn how long has it been? Shit even worse how long has it been since he’s gotten laid. Definitely before he’s taken Tobirama.

 

He doesn’t even want to think about it. Besides, sex isn’t something he’s necessarily craving. Especially since his muscles ache after working so much and some days he’s too tired to even think. But also because likes the idea of getting to know Madara. He’s already an interesting person by the few interactions they’ve had, and he has a good feeling.

 

A good feeling for the first time in a while and he was not going to mess it up.

Tobirama comes home later than usual. Hashirama almost was worried, then he remembered he started debate club at school. When Tobirama had told Hashirama he had joined the debate club, Hashi just could not pass up on the chance to tease him. Especially since the chances to tease Tobi don’t come as often as they should. He will take any and every chance he gets.

 

“And you say I’m the nerd?” Hashirama gasps exaggerating it, and Tobi huffs indignantly.

 

“‘Cause you are?! I think when you were in school I had to hear about some random ass plant in a totally different country you found fascinating like twice a week–” 

 

Tobirama won’t forget how fascinated Hashirama was when he found out about one carnivorous plant that’s rare and only grows under…Tobirama can’t even remember actually, and there’s that phase Hashirama had regarding parasitic plants, and he was coming up with theories about medicinal plants as well. He wanted to pour all of his knowledge into something meaningful. Tobirama likes to tease, but he knows Hashirama will do something great one day, and he knows that having a passion for something is important. Still, that doesn’t mean he wants to hear Hashirama rant about it for an hour.

 

“It’s cool! Nature will always survive no matter what harsh conditions are thrown at it, how do you not find that cool,” Tobirama now uncrosses his arms and rolls his eyes at his brother’s antics. Hashirama was such a geek.

 

“You’re hopeless,” He shakes his head. 

 

The two brothers are well acquainted with how the other acts. Especially living around each other in a small apartment for a long time, they can both ascertain when the other is in a good mood or bad one. So when Tobirama comes home he’s able to notice a change in his brother’s regular overall mood. He’s like, really happy. 

 

He knew there must be a reason for Hashirama’s good mood. Not that it bothered him, he was happy when his brother was in a good mood. 

 

It’s not like he wanted to see his brother sad, or tired all the time like he’s been previously. But such a quick and unexpected change was definitely noticeable. It was especially weird for Hashirama not to say why. He was always so extroverted, and open about things he was excited about. Which led him to deduce one thing he didn’t want to think about…like at all.

 

Hashirama was kind of naturally a bit spacey, as if he was always thinking about something other than what was at the present moment. But he could always come back to the present, it wasn’t like he was never there. But now he’s humming, and more obviously thinking about something else. 

 

It almost felt like he wasn’t even listening when Tobirama was trying to talk to him about this idiot that was in his debate club. Playing “devil’s advocate” when really he was just an asshole who probably did believe the things coming out of his mouth. 

 

“Hey Hashi,” He calls out from where he was sitting on the couch. After having recounted his day and the debacle at the debate club, only to be met with “hms” and “interestings” he knows something’s up. So he decides to do a little test. “We should get a dog.”

 

“Sounds good,” It’s an almost automatic response, and it makes Tobirama give a dramatic groan. 

 

“Hashi!!! What the hell is up with you?” There was a difference between being here physically and being here mentally, and Hashi was one but not the other at the moment. He’s glad Hashirama’s here, but if he’s not even going to pay attention, he might as well be at work.

 

He sits up, and Hashirama’s at the counter. Tobirama sees Hashi, not cooking dinner as he thought, but on his phone. Texting. Smiling.

 

Now he has to know what the hell is going on. Hashirama hardly has any friends, and it’s definitely not Mito who makes him smile like that . 

 

“You’ve got a guy,” Tobirama says aloud, the realization set in his mind the moment he says it. “You got a boyfriend and didn’t tell me?!”

 

“I do not have a boyfriend, so there was nothing to tell,” Hashirama says, his eyes never leaving the screen as he types, “But if you’re so intent on knowing, I did meet someone.”

 

“At the diner?” Not like he’d be meeting people anywhere else.

 

“Mmhm,” Hashirama affirms halfheartedly.

 

“You just gave this guy your number?” Tobirama asks in a mix between disbelief and annoyance. He feels a bit like he’s watching the beginning of a true crime special on prime-time television.

 

‘This is how it began, a chance meeting at his workplace, casual conversation, an exchange of numbers, and 36 hours later, Hashirama Senju…ended up dead.’

 

He can hear it now.

 

“Hashi, you’re unbelievable,” He sighs. Did he have no sense of caution?!

 

“You’re worried over nothing, this guy is fine—” Hashirama already kind of knows what Tobirama is getting at.

 

“Just so you know, psychopaths always seem normal.” he jumps at that and then adds, “Until you find their victim's bodies in the basement. 

 

“You’re so dramatic, and you watch way too much TV, he didn’t seem like a psycho to me,” Hashirama says shrugging.  Tobi is rather dramatic with this point, and Hashirama rolls his eyes. But at least Tobirama knows he’s listening now. He definitely wasn’t before.

 

“Is there anything else I should be cautious of Detective ?” He says sarcastically, his brother was something else. Tobirama was for sure someone who worried way too much. 

 

“Besides, why don’t you actually meet him before you start assuming things?”

 

“I’m not assuming, just being vigilant, since you’re not.” Giving a half hearted gesture to the state Hashi was in right now.

 

“Vigilant,” Hashirama scoffs, making one-handed air quotes at his brother’s diction, “That kind of attitude is why you have no friends.”

 

“Hey! Not like you have friends either, Mito does not count.” 

 

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

“So are you going to go on date with them?”

 

“Yeah? Why?” Hashirama asks slightly defensively then corrects himself. Tobirama was only just a kid no matter how he acted, and he knows that he hasn’t been around as much as he liked, so he’s sure his little brother feels a bit jealous being cast aside for someone that he just met. How does he assure him that this new guy, no matter how hot he is, wasn’t gonna make Hashirama not prioritize him?

 

“Look, we just met, I’m still gonna be around, and it’s not even a full commitment or anything. So don’t be–”

 

“I’m not jealous. That’s what you think? I’m just worried you’ll get murdered in some back alley,”

 

“You think it’s more likely that this guy is willing to murder me than actually be interested?”

 

“Uh yeah,” He says completely stone faced about it.

 

“I want to strangle you–” Hashirama makes a vague grabby motion with his hands. An empty threat until Tobirama starts to inch away. Hashirama takes that as an invitation though this hasn’t happened since they were slightly younger.

 

Hashirama gets up and Tobirama bolts , his brother chases him around the apartment, though small it becomes a game. Tobi stands on the other end of the couch. Frozen, waiting for his brother to go either way. He’s inching left…left… no he goes right and tackles Tobi into the couch. The tickle monster has returned.

 

“Stop—Stop! I lose,” Tobirama says in between laughs as his brother holds him and Hashirama releases him.

 

“I swear, I’m going to be taller than you, and then I’m gonna be the one to tackle you.” Tobirama makes a promise he has absolutely no control over. Hashirama is pretty tall, compared to him anyway. But Tobirama was rather short at an unyielding 5’ 4”. He was definitely going to grow more but the statement of “being taller” was not looking too promising. (Hashirama is closer 6 feet than Tobi’s height.) 

 

“Uh-huh, why don’t you start drinking milk or I don’t know taking your meds first?” Hashirama’s not even sure having Tobi take his meds would help his height but he sure will pester him about it.

 

“I hate you.” He jokes but shoves his older brother off of him all the same. Taking his iron pills fucking sucked. 

When Thursday comes around, Hashirama isn’t technically off of work. Mito had given him an hour to go on his “date or whatever” as she called it. Since he didn’t feel right calling it a date. They were just going to walk around the park since the scenery was nice, and Hashirama had declined a restaurant offer under the guise of limited time, but it was really since he didn’t feel like spending money. It would ruin his carefully planned budget. He was glad Madara didn’t seem too disappointed at that, and even offered the park idea instead, flowers were almost in bloom and some were, it would give Hashirama the limited chance to see them as well. Awfully considerate of Madara actually, he was already doing pretty well. It’s a simple enough date and manages to put Hashirama at ease unexpectedly. 

 

The weather is gorgeous, and he can appreciate it in full now. There’s a slight breeze, and the sunlight shines through the crevices of the leaves, making a pattern of angles on the sidewalk. The sunlight is warm, but the shade is nice. You don’t even need a sweater out, it’s very relaxing just existing right now. Hashirama takes a deep breath of fresh air, and feels calm. Sometimes the world just moves too fast, or a week can feel like 5 seconds or 5 thousand years. 

They talk for a while, and there’s some silence as they walk as well, admiring the atmosphere. In this time of day there aren’t many people out, children are still in school, and older people are more likely to be found here. Reading, playing chess or just eating lunch.

 

“So business consultant, hm?” Hashirama says a little bit out of the blue. He circles back to their initial conversation. Madara had made quite the first impression then, he still makes quite the impression now with what he chose to wear. Or maybe, Hashirama thinks, he just looks good in anything he wears. 

 

“How did I know you were going to bring that up?” Madara chuckles. Well, he didn’t know Hashirama was going to bring that up now but he figured Hashirama would bring it up eventually. He sighs, “Yeah, I was kind of always going to do something regarding business because of my father.”

 

Madara didn’t really have any other ideas for a career besides one regarding business because of the legacy of his father. Now that was basically what he would be considered an expert in thanks to his father’s teachings. There’s some sort of underlying contempt there for his father that Hashirama can understand. Though maybe not for the same reasons.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

“I mean, it pays the bills.” Madara says a bit too quickly, then elaborates because he doesn’t hate it that much, “Yeah I guess there’s something to like about it. I suppose I don’t get as much small jobs as I used to, but when I first started out I liked it a lot more.”

 

When starting out, he would help small businesses that didn’t know exactly what they were doing grow so they could be self-sufficient. It was due to those successes he was able to grow to where he is now.

 

“What about you?” Madara poses the question back at Hashirama now. He’s way more interested in knowing about him than talking about himself. (Actually they are both more interested in knowing about the other than they are about talking about themselves.) 

 

But both know how these conversations go. To get rid of first date awkwardness, talking is the way to go. It doesn’t have to be deeper than surface level at this point, there’s always time to dig a little deeper. 

 

“I’ve been working with Mito at the diner for a few years now, I guess you could say I like it a bit more now than I did when I first started,” He slightly jokes considering he said the opposite of what Madara did. There’s a sort of hollowness to it though. Not because it wasn’t true, Hashirama did in fact like working with Mito at her diner, but it wasn’t long term, and it wasn’t something that could help him get out of this slowly rising water he’s finding himself sinking under. 

 

“Mito? The red-head?” Madara asks. Remembering a woman with red-hair talking to Hashirama when he was there. She also seemed to encourage him a bit, but there was a sort of closeness to them he wasn’t too sure of what it meant.

 

“Yeah, my boss, well–she’s more like my best friend than my boss.” Hashirama talks about her warmly. Madara interprets that as something that could be unresolved.

 

“Hope she’s not someone I need to worry about,” Madara says mainly as a joke but he was actually testing the waters. They seemed quite close. 

 

“ Definitely not! She’s gay and she’s more like my sister,” Hashirama nearly shouts his defense, and Madara smiles, glad to have that cleared up. It seemed he was internally vomiting at even the mere mention that his friendship with Mito could be anything more than that. 

 

“You actually have siblings right?” Madara clarifies, he remembers Hashirama saying he has a brother. “A brother?”

 

“Yeah, just one. My brother Tobirama. He’s 15 and a pain in my ass,” Hashirama could go over about 100 things Tobirama has said to be slightly more irritating than he had to be. Tobirama was a sarcastic infused, dark-humor wielding menace. 

 

Madara smiles softly remembering what it was like to have his brother around. Izuna was a bit serious but he did take joy in tormenting Madara when they were younger. So much has changed since then.

 

“So you take care of him? What about…” Madara trails off, Hashirama is older of course so it’s not like he needs his parents around but taking care of a teenager is still a bit of work especially since it’s not even his kid, it’s his brother. Madara didn’t have to do anything like that with Izuna, and his parents were still alive of course. Even if his Dad was currently….

“We don’t have the same mother, I don’t even know who his mother is, I just vaguely remember meeting her…My mothers dead, and our father left…he’s a piece of shit,” Hashirama concludes simply, as if he could fit the entire last twenty years of his life in only a few sentences. He wonders if he was getting too deep for this first date already.

 

Butsama was a piece of shit who abandoned Tobirama the first chance he got because the kid was ‘too much’ and Hashirama almost scoffed at the small amount of money his father gave as if it would even pay for new shoes for Tobi. The asshole probably thought himself a saint for even doing that. Just thinking about it filled him with such anger. Tobirama knew that after at least a week at Hashirama’s place when winter break was already over, their father wasn’t coming back for him and he pretended not to be hurt or upset, but Hashirama knows that must have affected him a lot. 

“I know a thing or two about shitty fathers but that’s fucked up,” Madara says and one would think a light-hearted statement was a bit out of place but it’s honestly exactly what Hashirama needed. It’s been a few years since then, he wasn’t exactly over it but he was well adjusted. Well, as adjusted as he could be considering it was hard to care for a teenager, himself, and pay for everything in between. Why did groceries cost an arm and leg?! Why were doctors' appointments genuinely so expensive without insurance? 

 

“Besides your job, and your brother, do you have any hobbies?” Madara changes the subject.  A simple enough question right? But still Hashirama is finding it hard to get an answer. 

 

“Well honestly I don’t have much time for anything else, up until a week ago I had two full time jobs.”

 

“Full time?!” Madara asks shocked.

 

“Yeah,” Hashirama answers, remembering quite vividly how tiring that was.

 

“I can’t imagine. I work from home so—“

 

“You work from home?” Hashirama can’t even wrap his mind around that idea. That sounds like something he could never do. He thought Madara worked in some cushy office, he dresses like that and is so put together. How is he working from home?

 

“Yeah, I only made the change a few months ago. I used to have an office. I hated the atmosphere and I find it way more relaxing in my home,” 

 

“I bet, it must be nice working from home,” Hashirama is a bit jealous, but there’s no malice within him. Working from home must not be entirely as good as it sounds, and really that wasn’t his dream anyway. He just wanted to be able to work on his passion for studying plants. It sounds dorky but that’s what he wanted to do.

 

“I hope you’ll be able to do what you want too,” Madara says, and the well-wishes are genuine which earns him a smile from Hashirama.

 

Most of the conversation is filled with light small talk and Madara’s more serious but there was humor consisting of a few and subtle jokes between. Hashirama figures he’d either get along with Tobirama or he’d hate him. No in-between.

 

“You see those—“ Hashirama points to a type of tree they’ve passed by a few times. There’s mostly Elm trees around but the occasional Yoshino Cherry tree would be planted, “They’re Evodia trees.”

 

“They all look the same to me,” Madara says, and Hashirama’s hand falls in an exaggerated motion of disappointment.

 

“You sound like my brother,” Hashirama mutters. 

 

“The way you talk about your brother, I’d definitely like to meet him,” Madara says but they both know that meant ‘at some point’, and Hashirama doesn’t even know how that would go. Though he likes the implication that they’d get that far. 

 

“If you stick around, I’m sure you will,” Hashirama says, a bit of a teasing manner added in. He’d like to do something like this again. Maybe not exactly, but the day was nice. So nice in fact, it was almost as if the city itself was at peace. It also helped that all of the trees were green and full and he always appreciated some nice greenery. 

 

“Hey it’s almost 3, you have to go I assume?” Madara reminds Hashirama. Though he’s disappointed this couldn’t last longer. It was nice, peaceful. It broke the ice that didn’t even feel like it was there. It’s a sort of calm he’s hardly afforded talking with Madara. 

 

“Shit, you’re right,” Hashirama is about to turn around and head back in a hurry, but he stops, “Uhm thank you—this was, great —I’ll call you—“ He waves goodbye with a smile on his face and it makes Madara feel warm. He can’t wait to see him again.

Notes:

I don't have a real update schedule or anything, but I estimate I can update like once a month.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for reading

Chapter 3: Burning Desire

Summary:

Madara likes to call, Hashirama likes the sound of his voice. But maybe he should be paying a little more attention to Tobirama.

Hashirama claimed there wasn’t enough room in his life for another person as it was. But apparently, his mind decided to make room. It was an unexpected turn of events just how easily Hashirama had gotten swept up by him. Madara was hard to resist, not that he was really trying anyway. Madara just had this confidence and intrigue that radiated from him. Like a magnetic force attracting one to the other, Hashirama was pulled easily. That’s not to say Madara wasn’t equally as pulled either.

He told himself this could be simple, and there was no need to rush. Making time for Madara was justified by the fact that there was an abundance of time to work through because there was no rush. Things were going slow and that was fine by both of them.

He had to figure out his future. Madara was, for now, located only in the present but that also meant that the present was surely looking way nicer than his imagined future right about now. Hashirama found himself looking forward to the present more so now than ever.

Hashirama needed some of the ease that came with being with Madara. The man was nice, and Hashirama knew he could definitely do a lot worse. But nice wasn’t usually what made men alluring at all, certainly, Madara was more than just ‘nice.’ He shouldn’t have been on the forefront of his mind especially when he had twenty other things he should be thinking about. It was far too easy to let his mind succumb to it.

He should be looking for a new and more permanent higher paying job, but he felt like that was a pipe dream if anything. He tried to remember that it would be hard since he never finished his degree. Rejections piled up and it was difficult not to get discouraged. Though, Madara did encourage him to keep looking. So he did.

Hashirama began talking to the man more frequently than he thought he would. He found out that Madara liked phone calls. He found that a bit outdated considering that whatever small-talk Madara had called for could easily be told over a text message through the use of his fingers on a keyboard instead of his voice. Calling just seemed a bit extra and out of the way. Though, he loved hearing Madara’s voice so it wasn’t a problem. He made time when he could to answer his calls.

Madara would call unexpectedly, sometimes at night, like today. Hashirama had actually turned his ringer on simply for Madara so he wouldn’t miss it if he decided to call because he was ‘thinking about him.’ Which was such a cliche thing to say, but like the idiot he was, it made him swoon all the same. So stupid. Like he was a goddamn teenager again.

“So, what are you doing right now?” Hashirama can’t tell if Madara’s actually interested, or just engaging in small talk.

“Guess,” Hashirama says, trying to imagine Madara on the other end of the line. He just imagines him in bed right now, maybe that’s simply because it’s 10 at night but also because Hashirama himself is also in bed. Funnily enough, Madara’s next question is exactly about that.

“Are you in bed right now?”

“Maybe,” He was, and these one-word answers would surely annoy Madara if he kept them up. He would definitely be keeping them up. That’ll be the penalty for calling instead of texting.

“What are you wearing?” There’s a certain tone in his voice he’s using that makes Hashirama think, Oh are we doing this now?

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He’s actually wearing pajamas but he wants Madara to take what he says and how he says it at face value. He wonders if he can turn Madara on with a simple phone call. Unlikely, but he can try.

“I would.”

Interacting with Madara more often has given Hashirama some insight into a few things. One, is that Madara talks formally, a first he thought it was because they hardly knew each other yet. They actually still don’t know each other incredibly well, but Hashirama would have been able to tell if Madara had slipped up. He’s starting to believe that Madara just talks like that on the regular. He’s been pretty consistent since the first day they met.

“You’re a smart man, I’m sure you can use your imagination,” Hashirama teases, finding it too much fun right now despite how tame it is. Madara just has a way with him already it seemed. Hashirama sure has gotten comfortable around him, though they haven’t done anything quite yet. He’s definitely begun imagining it though. With the way Madara was built, there was no way he couldn’t. Hashirama is more than willing to comply with Madara’s wishes to take it easy considering he didn’t think he would be starting anything anyway.

“Hashirama, if you keep this up I might have to just visit your apartment,” Madara jokes, though Hashirama wonders if there’s some truth to it. Would Madara come here, fuck him in this very bed. Shit. Ok he was definitely hornier lately.

“You don’t even know where I live,” Hashirama would definitely like to keep it that way. He doesn’t need Madara to see his shitty ass apartment. With the fucked up insulation, and mostly dependable but also shitty plumbing. Yeah no, Hashirama is sure Madara’s place is at least twice as big and definitely nicely decorated if his clothes are anything to go by. It would be a miracle to get him through the door without shocking him.

“I wanted to ask, but you won’t even introduce me to your little brother so…” They’re back on this. Hashirama does talk about Tobi a little too frequently but definitely has delayed the introduction to the brother scenario.

“Don’t worry, when I do, you’re gonna wish I hadn’t,” Playful mood is over but it’s no big deal. Honestly, just imagining Madara meeting Tobi was a headache in itself.

“When I do…hm?” Madara repeats Hashirama’s words back at him. “So we are at the stage where you want to introduce me to your family now?” Great, he caught that.

“Sure sure, let me find my Dad I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” The joke took Madara by surprise so there’s a small second of silence before he laughs.

“Damn, you know I thought you were a little more serious Hashi,” He registers Madara’s use of that nickname, but is more interested in the context of the sentence.

“What about me screams ‘serious’?” Madara isn’t the first person to say he looked ‘intimidating’ or ‘serious’ at first glance. Mito would laugh, she’d say he looks like an idiot most of the time and is basically a puppy in human form. A non-threatening retriever of some sort. He never felt like he looked very serious or intimidating at all. But it wasn’t like he could see himself through the eyes of other people.

“You got this hyper-focused look to you sometimes, I swear it makes me think of–”

 

Hashirama doesn’t get an answer as to what he reminds Madara of since there’s a sudden crash from the kitchen. It sounds like a loud clang of metal and a sizzle of boiling water. It sounds urgent, and Hashirama is already up and moving toward it before he hears his brother’s voice. He didn’t even know Tobi was awake. What the fuck happened?

“Hashi!” Tobi calls out, it’s definitely frantic and immediate, “Need some help!”

“Shit, I have to go,” Hashirama says quickly, and that’s his only explanation when he hangs up the phone. It leaves Madara completely stunned on the other end, but Hashirama doesn’t have a second at all to think about it because he’s already in the kitchen to see what happened.

Madara figures he’ll find out what happened later, and actually shoots Hashirama a quick text to just tell him later since he’d like to know.

When Hashirama gets to the kitchen, he finds his brother trying to clean up boiling water off of the floor with a bath towel and some paper towels. The paper towels aren’t doing shit and Hashirama pulls Tobi away from the scene. He can clean up the mess of water later.

“What happened?” He asks though he can guess. There’s a pot off to the side, and water all over the floor, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out he tried to make something and probably dropped the water and it went horribly wrong. Though he’d like to know why the fuck Tobirama was even up this late trying to do whatever he was doing, and why did he fail that miserably.

“I tried making tea, I dropped the pot and fucked everything up.” He seems pretty upset about it, and definitely in pain. Did he burn himself?

“We don’t have a kettle?” Hashirama asks, he’s pretty sure they do in some cabinet somewhere, though he rarely makes tea so he’s not sure.

“No, we don't have a kettle!” Tobirama yells now.

“Okay okay!” Hashirama says, trying to defuse that anger, “Are you hurt?”

“Not too bad but I think I burned my hand.” He admits. “I grabbed the handle without mitts and I dropped it and my hand…”

“Let me see your hand,” Hashirama holds his hand out to grab his brothers’. Tobirama doesn’t immediately show his hand thinking Hashirama is making too big of a deal right now.

“Come on,” Hashirama insists, and Tobirama places the burned hand in his brother’s palm. Tobirama’s skin is pale white, so you can clearly see where the water touched him. Half his hand is red and slightly irritated already. Hashirama touches it with his palm, and it makes Tobirama suppress a wince.

“Sorry,” He mutters, and releases his brother's hand, “Leave the mess to me, I’ll pick it up.”

Hashirama’s got some experience with burns working at a restaurant, his hands are definitely rougher and maybe age and experience have something to do with it but something like this wouldn’t have hurt as much as it probably hurts Tobi right about now. Because of this, he decides to let Tobirama off the hook. He can clean up the mess, at least it’s only water, and that burn won’t leave a mark his brother should be good.

“It’s my fault I should—” He’s already trying to protest. Hashirama knows his brother has this tendency to make himself small as if it’s more convenient for others to be around him that way. But he’s not going to let him pick up a mess of hot water with an injured hand, even without, he still wouldn’t let him pick it up all by himself.

“No, I got it, and do you still want the tea I can make it for you,” Hashirama offers, he sees the teabag off in the mug on the other counter. It’s easy enough to make tea, so Tobirama likely won’t say no.

“Yeah sure.”

“Since when did you like tea anyway?” He asks, not remembering a time when he’s made it for him, and he hasn’t seen Tobi make any for himself before either. But he must have since he decided to now.

“My mom used to make some for me when I couldn’t sleep…I figure I should try to do it on my own,” Tobirama never talks about his mother. Actually, neither of them likes to talk about both of their parents at all. Hashirama doesn’t know Tobirama’s mother’s name or even any information about her. Except this, now. She used to make tea for him when he couldn’t sleep. That sounds like a motherly thing to do, it’s so odd to hear considering how she left him all alone with that son of a bitch who was their father.

“I’ll make you some don’t worry. Go to the bathroom and run your hand under some cold water and compress it with a cold rag,” Hashirama instructs, and Tobirama listens, going to the bathroom right away.

When he’s gone, Hashirama goes to pick up the mess. The water isn’t boiling hot anymore, but it's still hot and has definitely ruined the floor already. He’s sure the landlord won’t notice or care considering there are way more fucked up things in this building than the floors. After he picks up all the water, he puts the used towels in the laundry pile that’s in the corner of his room and begins to make the tea for Tobi.

Tea is just boiling water, but he doesn’t blame Tobirama for fucking it up since the pot is entirely metal and conducts heat very well, the handle gets as hot as the bottom of the pot, so he could see how he dropped it accidentally. He’s glad his brother didn’t suffer worse burns, that sound right when he heard the crash gave him a heart attack. He thought he’d come to see a much worse scene.

He replies to Madara’s message relaying the short details about what happened, to which Madara responds:

Your brother doesn’t need tea, he needs Melatonin.

I’m not giving my little brother drugs

Madara chuckles on the other end, Hashirama is making it seem like melatonin is some sort of opium.

Melatonin isn’t a hard drug, it’s a supplement.

I know that!

If he can’t sleep just give him that, or even the gummies. They’re over the counter, he’ll be fine. Though make sure he doesn’t eat too many or anything.

That makes Hashi laugh. Actually, it would be more likely to be him to eat more melatonin gummies than he should. Out of carelessness.

While the water is boiling, he wonders about his little brother’s childhood. They grew up differently. Where his mother was nurturing and kind until the day she died, he can’t say the same for Tobi’s mother. The only thing he knows about her was that she left when he was young leaving him with their father and that was the end of it.

Hashirama didn’t even know he had a younger brother until he was about 9 or so, and his father introduced them. At this point, Hashirama didn’t even connect the dots that his father had another woman he was seeing. Hashirama had held his baby brother’s body in his arms, wondering how someone related to him could look so different. But he didn’t question it very much since Tobirama was a really cute baby.

His father had two women (maybe more) that he was seeing. Hashirama doesn’t care to know more about his father’s life than he already does, and doesn’t even bother trying to find him either. He’s gone and that’s all he knows. End of story.

When he was a boy, Hashirama lived with his mom, and he saw his dad only occasionally. For Tobi, he had both his parents, then one, and then soon enough, both of them left eventually. He wonders how that would affect a kid like him. Tobirama seems naturally pessimistic but he wonders how much of that is natural and how much of it is due to unfortunate circumstances.

It’s upsetting enough to have one parent leave. Your own mother, then to have your father abandon you is another in itself. Even worse, Butsama just had to say that Tobirama was the problem when really he was the asshole who left when he got the chance. He took the easy way out.

Hashirama never asked but he sincerely hoped his father kept that dumbass opinion to himself. Tobirama is a kid, and it’s easy to place the blame for an adult's faults on yourself when you’re a kid. It’s easy to think adults have all the answers when you have none yourself. With both of his parents leaving him so easily, it wouldn’t be surprising if he assumed he was the problem.

He wants to create a better life for them. For himself, but also for his brother. So he’ll find a better job and maybe he’ll work things out so he isn’t so goddamn stressed anymore. Tobirama deserves better than what he’s doing right now.

Then his thoughts circle back to Madara. Madara makes him not think. He likes that. The not-thinking. He likes having only focus on a singular person. He likes the sound of Madara’s voice. His hair and his body. He wants to see what’s under those clothes and wants to know what’s in his head. He wants more. But he likes their bubble. He likes the fact it’s not quite serious yet and if he brings Tobi into it, if he introduces Madara to Tobirama doesn’t that make it real?

He knows Tobirama won’t like Madara. Right away, that’s a fact, Tobirama will try to find anything wrong with him. But that’s not the problem here. The problem is…is Hashirama ready to make it real? Is he ready to give it a name, call it a thing, and put effort into it when he’s already putting so much effort into everything else? Madara’s easy, and he likes that. Simplicity is rare in a setting where everything seemed to thrive on the strenuous effort he puts into everyday.

With all of these things Hashirama has to do, stuff he’s constantly worried about, now he’s wondering if he doesn’t devote enough time to his brother or not. He’s only 15, and Hashirama has left him alone quite often, thinking that his brother can handle it, but he wonders, how does his brother handle it?

“Tobi?” He knocks on the bathroom door, and he hears the sink running, “You alright?”

“Yeah,” it’s a half-hearted answer but he’ll take it.

“Your tea’s ready, it’s on the counter,”

“Alright,” Tobirama says, then opening the door, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Hashirama sees he’s got the small towel wrapped around his hand. “There’s some Ibuprofen in the cabinet if you need it.”

“It’s nothing really,” He insists, but Hashirama knows if he really needed pain medication, they’d be in urgent care right now. So Tobirama’s probably fine, though he mentioned it anyway.

Hashirama also made himself a cup and definitely plans on buying a kettle after this to boil water. Pouring the boiling hot water from the pot into a mug was a feat in itself. He got water all over the counter on the first try, then on the second try, he lifted the pot higher to get a smoother stream and it worked a little better but it was still difficult as hell.

“This is nice, what kind of tea is it?”

“I think it’s black tea? I don’t know. It's whatever we had in that jar.”

“I think chamomile is the one that’s good for sleep,” Tobirama mentions, “Though I figure you would know more than me.”

“Why ‘cause I like plants?”

“Uh yeah,” He answers as if that’s obvious with his condescending tone and everything. His sarcasm was usually so effortless sometimes it would fly over Hashi's head.

“Well excuse me, I didn’t study tea plants in college.”

“No wonder you can’t land a job,” He has a slight laugh at that statement

“Hey!” Seriously uncalled for. But it’s Tobirama, he can make a joke about anything it never hits quite too close to home. But if Madara said the same thing that would definitely sting.

“Why are you up now?” Tobirama asks.

“Why are you up now?” Hashirama says back.

“Told you, I couldn’t sleep,” He almost mumbles as if he doesn’t want to elaborate.

“Madara said you should take melatonin gummies.”

“Sleep supplements? Nah, this doesn’t happen too often, I don’t think I need supplements.”

“Well, there’s the fact that this happens at all so maybe you should try–”

“How is the boyfriend anyway?” Tobirama changes the subject quickly. Hashirama just sighs before he answers.

“Not my boyfriend.” He clarifies.

“Right…you talk to him like all the time, you got that stupid dopey grin on your face constantly. I could feed you animal feces and it still wouldn’t go away.”

“That’s–super disgusting. I don’t think I want my tea anymore.” Hashirama did not need such a vulgar example.

“What, I'm serious! You literally will not stop smiling. Frankly, it’s nasty.”

“You’re a hater.”

“I have to meet this guy, he can't be that good of a lay.”

“You’re 15, why are you talking about shit like that,” Hashirama accidentally curses, which he tries (and mostly fails) not to do. Tobirama looks at him like as if to say, seriously? He knows his brother isn’t that much of a prude to think that teenagers his age don’t know or think about what sex is.

“We haven’t had sex yet.” Hashirama relents.

“You’re fucking serious?”

“Language.” He reminds though it was hypocritical since he literally just cursed himself less than a minute ago.

“Oh shut up!”

“He must have the greatest personality then!” The emphasis is not lost, and Hashirama physically cannot today.

“Oh my god, you are never meeting him.”

“Awww seriously?!” Tobirama fake-pouts then turns into a loud laugh, “You already know I am gonna have to meet him. Actually, I’ll stop by Mito when he’s there, she’d love to give me all the detail—”

“No, you will not.” His brother’s voice is a bit too serious now. Maybe because he knows if he calls Mito, she will absolutely tell Tobi if Madara is here or not. In fact, she’ll save front-row seats for him to interact and everything.

“...Fine.” Tobirama backs off realizing that was a bit too close to actually making Hashirama somewhat mad. Which hardly occurs.

“Jeez, between the both of you…you guys can’t wait to meet huh,” Hashirama says and Tobi takes a sip of his tea.

“Madara knows me already?”

“Yeah, I talk about you.”

“Great, makes even more sense for me to meet him.” He says, “Who knows what you’re telling him.”

“Maybe,” He doesn’t commit to a real answer, but if he wants something with Madara it will happen.

“Maybe really means ‘no’ everyone knows that.”

“No, ‘Maybe’ means ‘probably yes’ or ‘probably no’,”

“Uh-huh,” Tobirama finishes his tea and puts his mug in the sink. “Thank you again by the way. I should probably try to get some sleep now. Oh, and my hand is already a little less red now.”

Hashirama checks the time. It’s already 11 now. He should probably sleep too. He would have been if he wasn’t on the phone before with Madara and if Tobi hadn’t dropped the pot.

“Goodnight,” Hashirama says, and Tobirama says a halfhearted ‘Night, back.

Before he goes to sleep, Hashirama texts Madara. Because apparently, he’s deep enough in it that Madara’s the last thing he thinks about before he goes to sleep.

Goodnight.

Goodnight Hashirama

Hashirama can almost hear Madara’s voice in his head.

Notes:

Assume this work won't update for a while because I am actually planning it before I even write the fourth chapter.

Chapter 4: Earthly Ties

Summary:

Hashirama is worried about his little brother. Rightfully so because Tobirama is getting bullied. Madara is down bad for Hashirama.

Notes:

This chapter was mostly written years ago and I kind of just skimmed it and made it longer and posted it. It's def not the same quality of the first chapter, and also switched 'perspective' to Tobirama for no other reason than I felt like writing him at the time. I think family dynamics are fun and Hashi is a good older brother. I think I would be a worse person if not for my younger sister.

Madara's family is more complicated, and yeah this chapter lowkey feels smushed together. But I suppose it's better than letting it continue to gather dust in my drafts for an eternity.

 

It didn’t take long for Madara to suggest they go out to dinner. Hashirama already got the vibe that he’d like something a bit on the expensive side, and declined. Then Madara said he’d pay for all of it so..why not? Hashirama wasn’t so much of a saint he would deny himself free dinner from a handsome date. 

 

He’s on the phone texting Madara currently, his brother should be home any minute considering school ended almost an hour ago. Hashirama was home only because Mito gave him the day off. Likely out of pity and concern. He wasn’t getting paid for the day but he still made use of it. He cleaned the entire house, made dinner for the both of them and was now taking a break texting Madara. It was nice, how easy it was to talk to him.

 

Tobirama walks in at the time Hashirama expected. This would usually be the time he’d receive an ‘I’m home’ text if he were working the diner today. 

 

“Hey,” Hashirama greets, looking at Tobirama who looked plain faced as ever. Not angry, not upset, just a bit out of it though. It wasn’t nice to see him like this, but he’s been sort of out of it for a little while now. 

 

As expected, Hashirama received no response from the brooding teenager. Tobirama simply drops his bookbag near the door, and headed straight for his room. He closed his door with something just under a slam. If Hashirama thought he held more authority, he might have made a comment about it. 

 

If this were a random off-day and Tobirama had been acting fine all week, Hashirama would go up to him, ask him if something happened and try to coax his brother into a better mood somehow. But his little brother’s been in such a mood for the last week that he’s become an energy vampire. Hashirama thought it was better to give him some space, if it continues for much longer he’ll have to intervene somehow. He didn’t really know what to do. Yeah, he was a teenager once too, but him and Tobirama were completely different people and Hashirama was mostly self-reliant in terms of his childhood. There wasn’t any parent to want to help him regulate his emotions or whatever. He was lost. 

 

He brought this up to Mito when he could. She told him it was probably just puberty or something, and that he’d be back to his acceptable amount of cynicism soon. He sighed and tried to type his response to Madara, but Tobirama wouldn’t escape his thoughts. 

Mito told him he just needed friends, to which he said something along the lines of, 

 

“I’m his brother but I’m also his guardian so it makes sense for me to be worried about him doesn’t it?”

 

“Do you ever think maybe it’s overbearing for him to have his brother also be his parent?”

 

And he never really thought about it that way. So yeah, maybe he did need some friends. Mito said she didn’t exactly count ‘cause she was also his boss. Madara was at least trying for that role. (Or more, his mind supplied unhelpfully.)

 

Here was Madara, a true gentleman, offering to pay for dinner for the both of them. Hashirama knew it was simply because he could tell his date wasn’t exactly in any position to drop grocery money on one date, and he was grateful for that information not being brought to his attention so clearly. Even though Madara was paying, and insisted upon it even, he didn’t hope he was one of those guys who expected something out of it as well. Hashirama didn’t get those kinds of vibes from the man, but he also didn’t like to be caught wrong about a person. It didn’t happen often, but when it did it was rather devastating. 

 

Setting aside his brother’s mood he decides to let it go to the back of his mind. Mito was probably right and that this would just pass. 

 

Please let me not be wrong about Madara. This is just going to be a nice evening.

He pleaded in his mind before texting Madara,

 

It’s a date. 

For the first time in a long time, Hashirama was so excited. He was eager to know Madara more and found himself thinking that maybe it would be nice to integrate the man into his life more.

 

◇

 

Tobirama was a top student in his school. It helped that he actually liked to learn, much like his older brother. But he also felt like he had to be, considering Hashirama does so much for him on a daily basis. Though besides the chance to learn something new, there wasn’t much to like at school. Nothing at all really.

 

There were so many arbitrary rules and students who took much joy out of their lives by making his life worse. He was an easy target, he wasn’t exactly ‘put together’ like his classmates, he looked rather odd, and he was smarter than most which made other kid’s inferiority complex act up. He was quiet, he didn't have friends. The list could go on. Seeing him succeed at academics when he was such a “loser” made them want to retaliate against him. Tobirama understood the reasons, it was simple. Didn’t mean he could do anything about it though.

 

He already knew his teachers would do nothing, he's tried to bring it up before. There was also the fact he didn’t want to worry his brother or give him just another thing on his plate, so he endured. Hashirama didn’t need to hear anything about it. Besides, he’s looking so much happier now. 

 

It didn’t take a genius to know Hashirama was texting that guy more often. He'd smile at his phone like never before so it was better if he didn't know the bullying was getting worse at school than usual. 

 

He’s done some work to make sure Hashirama will leave him alone. Not answering when Hashirama speaks to him, and just being a general asshole. At first it actually kind of helped because he didn’t want to talk anyway. But then he started feeling bad because Hashirama was actually leaving him alone. 

 

Maybe he thought, childishly he would admit, that Hashirama would pester him anyway. But he’s got more things on his mind now than just him, and shouldn’t Tobirama be happy his brother is finally not overbearing as much as before?

 

Yeah, he should. He is. 

 

Hashirama will still act the same regarding the routine things, he still reminded Tobirama to take his medication, he did seem to forget to do that a lot. So much that Hashirama began counting his pills come the end of the month. Hashirama isn’t around enough to remind him to take his meds twice a day everyday and that’s no fault of his own.

 

He just forgets it’s not like he’s done this before. Hashirama cared enough to take him to the doctor and get this figured out. But he still forgets despite knowing it’s something he should do. By the time he does remember it’s kind of too late anyway so he figures there isn’t any point.

 

Tobirama could easily pass out if he doesn't take his pills for a prolonged period of time, but he'd never be that irresponsible. For someone who was only slightly irresponsible, this never showed in regards to his schoolwork because he never allowed it to be an issue. 

 

Though he hated going, he still did absolutely everything assigned and he did it well. He doesn't want to fail at anything and risk Hashirama sending him to tutoring, or even worse letting his brother's thoughts persuade himself he wasn't doing a good job balancing everything. Tobirama was a kid, but he was far from stupid. Hashirama had too much responsibility and Tobirama wanted to make sure that his responsibility as a big brother was as easy as he can possibly make it. The pills aside, he did everything else pretty well. 

 

Except, his mind came back to the water. He spilled hot water everywhere like a dumbass. Then felt so much worse when Hashirama told him he’d pick everything up. It was his mess, and Hashi looked so worried. Tobirama had to tend to his hand since Hashirama insisted that it was more important. 

 

Hashirama was on a call before, Tobirama assumed it was that guy, and he hung up abruptly to deal with the issue Tobirama created. I’m such an idiot. 

 

Hashirama being on the phone call with anyone was a rarity. Not that he didn't think his brother could pull, it's just suspicious...okay maybe Tobirama did think Hashirama was kinda undateable. But— hey ! That's just his perspective as a brother. Tobirama is under the impression Hashi is undateable because of just how much of a nerd he is, and kind of awkward in "date" settings, or when in the presence of "potential romantic partners" although there's no data of any kind to back up this impression. Except when Mito tried to introduce him to a former chef at her diner to Hashirama and then he rambled a bit too long on some subject that was too niche and not general enough to facilitate a better conversation. Translation, his older brother had absolutely no game. 

 

So he doesn't think it's that much of a stretch to assume that this Madara guy has to be a scammer or a murderer. In fact, Tobirama is pretty sure. But of course, there's the very unlikely possibility that this supposedly 'super attractive' man (Hashi's words) who looks 'well-established' and 'put together' also likes men, and likes Hashirama that is. 

 

Hashirama is really trying to sell it. He isn't buying it. 

 

But if this guy was a scammer he was bad at picking targets. 

 

Here he was at school, reminiscing about his brother’s love life and his own failures and he’s pulled out of his thoughts and back into the present when a girl comes up to his lunch table, gawking at him like a zoo animal. 

 

"Woahhh so he really does have red eyes?" She speaks aloud to her friend behind her, then she leans over as if to inspect Tobirama, and treats him like an inanimate object. A shiny thing she'd hold in her hand, tilt to see how it looked in different directions. It's...unsettling. 

 

But it's not like this is the first time it's happened. So he looks away and shrugs it off. But she's staying for way too long. 

 

"Yeah he's gotta be some type of demon." The girls friend looks directly at Tobirama as she said this, arms crossed in a taunt. He rolls his eyes and continues to read his book. He was a loner, so for some reason people thought they had permission to talk about him as if he never heard a thing. Or maybe it's not that they think he can't hear, it's just that they don't care, or they want to see how far they can push him. 

 

He tries to go back to what he's doing. Thinking about three different things at once. The plot of the current book he’s reading, whether he did his homework for the next class, his brother's mysterious boyfriend who is certainly off...

 

The main character of his book actually does have a demon inside of him, and Tobirama predicts at the end the main character will have to be killed by their best friend. (Some part of him hopes that doesn't happen though considering there's enough tragedy in these 143 pages already. He thinks the two should just date instead.)

 

"Helloooo!" 

 

Waving her hand in front of his face she tries to get his attention from his book. For what, Tobirama doesn't know or care. He just ignores her existence, as kids would do when he was younger. It is effective most of the time some kids will be too bored with him and leave him alone. (For a little bit then they come back) 

 

"Maybe he's mentally challenged," the girl suggests turning back to her friend. He'd be fine letting her think that if it means she goes away. 

 

"He's just an asshole."

 

Says the person looking at me like a monkey in a cage. He thinks but almost has to bite himself not to say. If he tries to fight with sarcasm or be mean things just get worse. He's been through this. 

 

"Let's go."

 

They leave and Tobirama sighs a loud out of relief. He hates dealing with shit like that. School fucking sucks. The grades he can get around, things weren't hard at all. But it was the people that truly made it a hellhole to begin with. 

 

His brother still thinks he's friends with this one boy from middle school, but they stopped talking as soon as high school started. It seemed he grew a whole two inches and his ego grew six because he thought hanging with Tobirama was somehow 'uncool' now. He wished he was more petty and spread the corny information that he had a shelf of collectible amiibos that are still in their boxes. 

 

But he never says a thing, he won’t punch a kid regardless of how much he wants to because he knows what Hashirama would do if he were in this situation. It wouldn’t be any of the things he thinks of doing. His brother was a peacekeeper, a kind soul, and Tobirama knew if he didn’t have him that he would turn out exactly like his dad. That’s not something he ever wants to be.

◇

 

It’s a date.

 

Madara reads that reply and some satisfying feeling pulls him in at how quickly Hashirama had responded. He knows by now Hashirama wouldn’t want a flashy place, but he still wants to impress. He knows Hashirama may have reservations about him and starting anything but Madara wants to make himself irresistible to him because Hashirama was alluring in a distinct way. The attraction was undeniable.

 

They talk frequently, and Hashirama brings up his little brother fondly sometimes. It reminds him how his relationship with his younger brother is so different. In fact he would go so far as to say their families were near polar opposites. Based on what he’s heard so far. 

 

Madara talks about them like they’re dead. But they’re not. His mother is, but she’s been dead since Izuna was 11, and she was frankly one of the most miserable people Madara’s had the misfortune of knowing. Only god knew why she bothered to have one child let alone two. 

 

The age gap between him and Izuna was only three years, but Izuna was still far more immature than his age. Their father wasn’t exactly the best example of a good person though. He wasn’t dead, fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you asked. As far as the general public knew he sold his company, and is in retirement living on some island. That’s only part of the story. 

 

Izuna sold the company, and their father would have hated that had he any awareness of it. There is an entire new board of shareholders and none of the family participates in operations any longer. Izuna relocated their father who now lives at his beach home on an island where no one would know him except his medical attendant. Madara is sure the man has only a vague idea where he is, he’s hardly lucid enough to recognize their kids from the image of two coconuts. Tragic really, the man used to be so calculating, now he couldn’t manage to multiply five by itself. 

 

Izuna really swooped in at the perfect time, got everything he wanted since he had no opposers, leaving Madara with everything he earned and nothing he was entitled to as the firstborn son on their father’s will. It didn’t bother him as much as it probably should have. But it mattered so so much to Izuna to take everything he thought he deserved. His taunting fell on deaf ears, and Madara was happy to see it infuriated him.

 

He learned family wasn’t everything such a long time ago. He was only close to his brother before they were in their late teens and Izuna didn’t yet develop a strange need to beat Madara as if they were competitors and not siblings. When he thought more about it, it hurt to see his younger brother turn into this greedy megalomaniac but he really should have seen it coming. 

 

It’s like he fell down some pipeline, he’d say misogynistic things, hated anything out of the norm aka queerness. Undoubtedly if he knew Madara was interested in men his brother would be disgusted. Strange how someone could dislike women to that degree then go around dating multiple women at once. ‘An open relationship’ he said when Madara bothered to call him out on it. 

 

From then on, Madara considered the guy a lost cause and wished they weren’t related. He blocked his number and told Izuna not to call unless their father finally kicked the bucket.

 

Seeing Hashirama talk about his brother made him feel sad in a way not enough to be bothered by it for long. Almost like a yearning. Hashirama was a good person, and there was no doubt he was doing a good job taking care of his sibling. 

 

It made him admire the man more, he was hardworking, had a kind heart, he was intelligent and beautiful. The initial attraction only got deeper the more he got to know him. He hopes Hashirama likes him even half as much, if that were true he’d still be happy with it.

Notes:

So...erm it's been almost 3 years since I updated Evergreen. I never forget about the stuff I write however when I posted Evergreen I wound up in the hospital that year (Ao3 curse I know--) and tbh I realized I am not good at developing relationships and banter and stuff...so anyway. This is chapter 4 and most of it was written literally years ago, so don't expect much more ANYTIME soon. (I have too many WIPS) I always planned on this being 11 chapters but that's likely not happening. I love this idea, but I am not a good enough writer to carry it out the way I want...

I'm being so serious when I say, if anyone reads this, and has ideas or thoughts about this fic, don't hesitate to let me know cause I do love talking about the stuff I write. I always have ideas in the background while working on something. Thank you so much for anyone who has read this previously or anyone who is reading this in the future, I appreciate any and all of you <3