#For me Madara and Hashirama is a package deal most of the time. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raendown · 5 years

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Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 3954 Chapter: 10/? Summary: Not all wars are fought on the battlefield. Some are fought at the conference table, with whispers in the shadows, or even in the bedroom.

In a world where the Senju and Uchiha traditional lands were too far apart to have ever made them enemies, Butsuma and Tajima are the ones who come together and sign a treaty of peace. Madara isn’t happy to have his life signed away for him in a political marriage to strengthen the bond between their clans. He is even less happy to have Tobirama make assumptions of him from their very first night together. What follows from there is a journey of healing, of learning, and finding the places to belong in the places least expected.

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Chapter 10

Despite sharing an office with two other Senju who had chosen to devote themselves to administrative duties over active missions, on a day to day basis Tobirama found himself alone more often than not. His two office-mates were both the busybody type prone to sticking their noses in to other people’s business but it served them well when they had both also taken on perhaps more duties than wise. Most of their time was spent in other people’s offices speaking about one project or another, sometimes milling around in what was coming to be known as the Mission Room to gather information from their returning soldiers.

Usually Tobirama had very little problems with the way this worked out for him. The rare occasions when one of his office partners took it in to their heads to bother him about his own work were well worth suffering through to earn his own quiet space the large majority of the time. In fact, it was only now as he sat staring across the desk at a middle-aged woman with all the markings of a civilian that he realized there might be one downside to having the room to himself.

He didn’t have anyone to fall back on for picking up his slack with socializing.

Though he tried his best not to look too intimidating or disinterested, there was only so much he could do without slipping over in to Hashirama territory and greeting her with a hug or some other garish nonsense. The woman stared back at him as one does when faced with a particularly daunting task and visibly steeled herself before stepping further in to the room.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said and Tobirama shook his head.

“Paperwork is patient – sometimes. How may I help you?”

“Oh I don’t – um. I don’t need any help. Actually I was hoping to present Tobirama-sama with a gift if that- if that’s okay?” Clearly nervous, she still managed to gather the courage to step a little closer and clutch tightly at the satchel she was wearing on one side.

Intrigued, Tobirama blinked. “A gift? I’m not sure I’ve done anything to earn such things.”

“Well, um, Tobirama-sama might think of it as more of an apology.”

At the curious tilt of his head the woman rummaged through her satchel in a flurry of motion before holding out a small package with both hands shaking ever so slightly from the tension in her body. The package itself was wrapped in plain blue cloth and tied neatly with a white bow. Tobirama took it from her more because he was worried she might think he was rejecting her offer than anything else, a little too stunned to know how he should be reacting himself.

“I can’t imagine what you need to apologize for,” he murmured, one eye on the package and the other on his guest. Her looks were distinctly Uchiha if one were able to see past the softness of her civilian musculature and the unusually light shade of her hair.

“When Tobirama-sama came to the clan we did our best to respect your traditions and treat you as we thought you would expect to be treated. Madara-sama has spoken to us and told us of the insult we gave by accident. We didn’t mean to!” Her buried bow rather neatly covered the way Tobirama’s jaw hung loose with shock. “Please consider this gift an apology from my friends and me in the marketplace. We only sought to make Tobirama-sama more comfortable but in our ignorance we–”

“Please,” Tobirama interrupted her, half standing from his chair and reaching out as though to physical stop her from bowing. “There’s no need to apologize. I was never angry.” Well, not after the situation was explained to him and he’d had time to calm down. He’d been sad, of course, but he wasn’t going to mention that to this earnest woman here trying to make amends for something that wasn’t her fault. Feeling extraordinarily awkward, Tobirama looked down at the gift in his hands and murmured, “You really didn’t have to get me something.”

With slow words the woman pursed her lips and asked, “Does Tobirama-sama wish for me to take the gift back?”

“Let’s not start a loop of accidentally offending each other, I beg you.” Rubbing the space between his brows, he nearly missed it when his guest began to laugh.

“Of course not, my lord.”

He opened his mouth to tell her she didn’t need to call him lord or anything of the kind but she spoke just before he could, dismissing herself and bowing out of the room with well wishes and urgings for him to enjoy the present. Tobirama slumped back in to his seat without really knowing how he felt.

The gift itself was surprise enough but to know that Madara had spoken to his people, presumably at one of the clan meetings Tobirama had never bothered to attend, and explained how their good intentions had gone wrong? Of all the kindnesses he never would have expected from his husband that was something he wouldn’t have even thought to put on the list. It was downright thoughtful.

Such a gesture deserved one in return, of course. Tobirama knew enough from observing other marriages in his own clan to know that give deserved take. The main problem was that he had no idea what gesture he could make in return. All the things he thought he knew about Madara from exchanging letters had been rendered unreliable by the discovery that it hadn’t been Madara he’d written to after all and it wasn’t as though he’d spent a great deal of time getting to know the man since their wedding night. If the last couple of weeks had told him anything it was that he should probably do so now. Better late than never.

First, however, he needed to open the bundle he was still holding absently between both hands. Soft blue cloth rustled softly as he gently set it down to fiddle with the bow. Just cutting the white ribbon felt like a disservice despite there being no one here to judge him for his present opening habits so Tobirama took a moment to pick the bow apart and slide it off, allowing the cloth wrapping to slough down and reveal the contents. He recognized the packaging as soon as he laid his eyes on it and smiled. Surely it must have been nothing more than a lucky guess for the woman and her friends to pick out his favorite incense, the same scent he’d been burning since his mother passed away because it carried so many memories of her, but he could appreciate lucky guesses when they hit the mark so well.

The gift included a new burner which Tobirama very carefully put away in his desk drawer so he could decide where to set it up later. He didn’t want his officemates using it without asking and there was little point in setting it up in either his lab or his home since one was not an environment for open heat sources and the other he still didn’t devote more time to than necessary.

It was with that in mind that he checked the time and stretched his senses in search of Madara. Unusually considering it was the end of the work day his husband was making his way up to the top floor of the tower to drop off whatever files he needed to in his father’s office, something he normally did at lunch. Tobirama did not envy him that duty. Tensions had been high between the two founders of their village over the past little while leaving everyone but the two heirs grateful that they were afforded the distance of sending their work by courier. The runners, at least, never seemed to get yelled at for bearing bad news. It was easy enough to have everything of his own work squared away by the time Madara's chakra signature backed out of Tajima’s office to descend the main staircase.

At first sight his husband paid him no more attention than they usually afforded each other when passing in the hallways. Tobirama figured he had only himself to blame for the necessity of turning quickly on his heel to fall in step with the man he was looking for.

“Did you need something?” Madara's voice carried the faintest overtones of apology and Tobirama very carefully looked straight ahead as he answered.

“Nothing,” he admitted. “We’re both leaving. I just thought we might walk together – if you are headed towards home, that is.” Too late it occurred to him that Madara might have made other plans for his evening than hanging around in a house where he usually found himself alone.

Just in time to be as annoying as all older siblings were destined to be, Hashirama appeared between them a moment later and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. “Ready to go?”

“Ah.” Tobirama desperately hoped he didn’t look quite as awkward as he felt.

“Oh, I almost didn’t see you there, Tobi!” Hashirama smiled and tried to clap him on the shoulder as well, a gesture he brushed away before it could connect.

“Get your eyes checked, I’m not even the same color as anything in this hallway.”

“Hey!”

Ignoring that pout was easy after a lifetime of practice. Tobirama blinked past him at Madara and decided he didn’t even want to make an attempt to figure out what thoughts were going on behind that strange expression. He’d already embarrassed himself, the best thing to do now if he wanted to salvage his pride would be to bow out with grace and not make a scene.

Madara had other ideas, apparently.

“Go away, Hashirama,” he grunted shortly. Tobirama blinked while Hashirama clasped his chest like he’d been stabbed.

“But we were going for tea!”

Trying to be subtle, Tobirama shook his head and murmured, “You are free to go enjoy your tea.”

“I said go away. We can have tea tomorrow.” Madara retaliated to the kindly greeting his friend had given him by clapping Hashirama so hard between the shoulder blades that he stumbled and then stepped around him to pull Tobirama away by the sleeve. “Don’t give me those sad eyes, you just spent all day with me! You’ll survive without tea. Go home to your wife.”

“You didn’t have to ruin your plans,” Tobirama told him as soon as they stepped outside and left Hashirama out of earshot. “I really didn’t need anything important.”

“Maybe I was just tired of his face.” Underneath the gruff bravado Madara's voice still sounded vaguely apologetic and that was just embarrassing enough for Tobirama to shut his mouth with a light cough. He was the one who had interrupted previously made plans but there was no way he was having this ‘no need to apologize’ conversation twice in one day.

He settled for an awkward nod and trying to remember what he was supposed to do with his arms while walking. Why, he asked himself as they both joined the crowds choking the streets, had he thought this was a nice gesture? Not a single topic of conversation occurred to him no matter how desperately he wished to fill the silence. Instead they rounded two corners and crossed at least a quarter of the distance back to their shared domicile in utter silence, occasionally peeking over at each other only to look away in a hurry when their eyes met unexpectedly.

At some point the crowds began to thin and by the time they passed out of the village center in to the more residential areas they were nearly alone on each street. Tobirama continued to wrack his brain for something to say all the way up until Madara finally broke the tension.

“Were you…planning to stay in tonight?” he asked. Tobirama was glad they weren’t standing still, which made it much easier to resist the urge to shuffle his feet like a nervous child.

“Unless you were hoping to invite guests. I wouldn’t wish to intrude.”

“S’your house too,” Madara said under his breath.

An odd thrill ran through Tobirama’s limbs when he heard that and he found himself asking, “Is there anything in particular you might like for dinner? I wouldn’t mind cooking.”

“Oh. Uh. I don’t know, whatever you feel like making should be fine.”

He was indescribably grateful that Madara didn’t bother with any polite refusals or asking if he was sure because just making the offer in the first place had taken enough courage and he wasn’t sure he could have defended his own decision. Not when convincing himself to make it in the first place had already needed so much effort. The thrill of success felt a little like electricity at his fingertips, though, and he found that his thoughts were much clearer now that the silence wasn’t quite so stifling between them.

“I was thinking gyudon. Not that difficult to make and it’s nice to have something other than fish at least every once in a while.” Also from what he could remember of the last time he poked his nose in to the kitchen for a quick meal he was fairly sure they had everything he would need to make gyudon.

“That sounds fine. You…like fish?”

“My favorite. Any kind of fish, really, but there’s this one kind I tried the last time I was in Uzushio–” Without even realizing what he was doing Tobirama hared off on a tangent about one of his biggest passions outside of anything related to battle: the many and varied seafood dishes he had enjoyed in his lifetime. Madara actually asked a few questions so it wasn’t until he saw their house down the street that he realized he’d just babbled away their entire journey about fish. In his efforts to build more positive relations between them he had probably just alienated the man by painting himself as a boring idiot with nothing better to talk about.

A great deal of effort went in to snapping his jaw shut to cut off the flow of inane chatter and Tobirama silently made a few unflattering comparisons between himself and his brother as they stepped in to the house together. They busied themselves with kicking off their regulation sandals and setting them in neat little pairs on opposite sides of the genkan. While Madara pulled off the light coat he’d thrown over his typical robes and hung it up Tobirama scurried out of the way and turned towards the kitchen.

The first thing he did was open the fridge and shove his head out of sight behind the door where he could squeeze his eyes shut and berate himself for being so stubbornly awkward. Never before had he had such trouble communicating with other people – and that was saying something considering how stiff and unapproachable even his own reserved clan tended to find him. Yet here he was with a husband of his own and years of lessons in the Senju traditions all running through his mind telling him exactly how to charm his spouse, make the best of the life he had been given, and still he found his brain as empty as a leaking sieve.

Before he could do anything as telling as give himself a tight slap across the mouth to get his thoughts in order Madara stepped hesitantly in to the kitchen as well, forcing Tobirama to scramble for the ingredients he would need and pull away from his hiding spot.

“Would you like some help?” Madara offered. “I can prepare the vegetables if you prepare the beef.”

“Oh. Yes. I would- thank you.”

The break in his words seemed to amuse Madara, if nothing else. Tobirama supposed laughing at him for tripping on his own speech was better than scowling darkly at him for daring to step foot inside the home before night had fallen.

With a startling amount of ease the two of them danced around each other in the limited kitchen space, each attending to their own half of the preparations. Tobirama could have sworn he felt Madara's eyes on him a few times as he sliced the meat and cracked a few eggs in to a clean bowl but each time he turned to look he found the man’s eyes locked on to the onions and scallions before him. Either he was imagining things or his hyper awareness of every move they both made was playing tricks on his mind.

He had only just added the onions to the pan he’d been heating when Madara once again proved himself the braver of the two of them in social situations like this, keeping his attention on the sauce ingredients he was measuring out.

“I understand you were part of the meeting with the Inuzuka delegation?” he waited until Tobirama nodded the affirmative before going on. “What’s your impression of them?” Tobirama kept his face towards the onions to cover up the shock that his opinion might count for something.

“Loud,” he murmured because that was the first thing that came to mind. “An uncouth bunch from my experiences, although they make excellent trackers and their skills on the battlefield are not to be sneezed at. If they are allotted a separate compound as most of the other larger clans have asked for then I don’t foresee many problems with their integration beyond the usual phase of finding where they fit in best and who they get along with the easiest.”

“The adjustment period.” Madara nodded agreeably.

“Precisely.”

Stirring his onions and pulling the sliced beef a bit closer in preparation, Tobirama dared to peek over at his husband. Not so much at his expression, thoughtful and focused on their conversation as he appeared to be, but rather at the man himself. Long dark lashes framing deep set eyes with permanent dark circles that would not have worked on any other face. Cheeks that never quite lost the final bit of baby fat, puffing out with indignation and rage almost every time he left the house. Small bits of hair broke off from the thick tangle flowing down his back to hang down and frame his face like a living portrait. All in all he made quite the image. Enough so that Tobirama came very close to getting lost in that image until Madara turned to him with a questioning lift of one brow.

“No qualms with them, then? You’ll welcome them in to the village once they finally sign the treaty like everyone else?”

“Well…I could live without the dogs they insist on taking with them everywhere.” Tobirama wrinkled his nose. He understood the bonds they made with their companions but…

“If they kept cats I would be much more enthusiastic to have them here.”

He blinked, not expecting to have his thoughts given voice. “I feel much the same. Cats are cleaner, quieter, and much more suited to the life of a shinobi who doesn’t wish to announce their presence ten minutes before they arrive anywhere.”

“Exactly! I’m sure there must be some nice folk among the Inuzuka but…they’re just so loud, them and the dogs both. We’re not likely to make great friends off of the battlefield.” Madara shook his head.

“Your territory was a little closer to theirs than ours was before the village was built and I have to say”-Tobirama paused to smirk-“I don’t envy you that. Allow me to thank you now for keeping them occupied and saving me the headache of dealing with them more often.”

“Little shit.” Madara rolled his eyes but he too was smiling and Tobirama felt like he’d won a medal.

“I already had Hashirama to deal with. Adding the Inuzuka in to the mix would have driven me crazy before I reached double digits.” Just thinking about it made him shudder. He couldn’t imagine what sort of madness he would have had to put up with if he’d had to battle Hashirama’s frequent idiocies on top of smelling the Inuzuka’s dogs every time he stepped outside the compound walls.

He doubted any of them had even tried owning cats, the heartless bastards.

Madara, on the other hand, appeared to be a smarter man than Tobirama knew in that he also preferred cats to dogs. On the list of things he thought they might have in common he really should have expected that one considering the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the ninneko hidden beneath the streets of Sora-ku. Tobirama had never been able to keep a pet cat before, not wanting to set off Hashirama’s allergies, but he wondered if maybe now Madara might be okay with it. Village life lent itself much better to keeping pets anyway.

“That’s very fair. Much as your brother has become a very dear friend I don’t know that I would survive living with him.” His husband laughed and Tobirama was surprised to feel jealously at his words. A friend, Madara had called him, and he trusted that Hashirama felt only the same in return. There was no need to worry himself about whatever relationship was building between the two of them but they had at least a kind of relationship and for that he envied his own sibling.

“If I know my brother then he’s probably invited you to stay the night after dinner several times.” Tobirama finally deemed the beef cooked well enough and slowly began to add in the ingredients for the sauce. “Perhaps you should take him up on the offer sometime and experience for yourself the horrors I’ve had to put up with.”

“Like?”

“Ugh, like his morning breath.”

Apparently that wasn’t the sort of answer Madara was expecting because it startled a booming laugh out of him, unselfconscious and free in a way Tobirama was sure he himself had never managed in his life. Mirth painted twin circles of pink across Madara's cheeks and the look was so nice on him that Tobirama nearly forgot to stir the gyudon to keep their dinner from burning. Unsurprising, that. Physical attraction had never been the problem between them; Tobirama could remember having to control his face very strictly upon catching his first glimpse of the beauty he was to be married to. The trouble had been their spectacular skills in miscommunication up until recently.

When their meal was finally ready he was pleased to have kept the conversation going with the same light tone and not a single argument yet. By the time he had served two generous bowls and sat down with the drinks Madara poured for them he was feeling more optimistic about the future than he had in half a year. With just a little extra effort it seemed they were able to get along after all, which gave him hope for the things he had been groomed to wait his entire life for.

A happy home and a partner to lean on when the days were long, what more could anyone ask for in life? If he tried hard to keep things moving as they had been lately he, too, might have those things. Watching the smile on Madara's face as they circled back to a happy discussion of why cats were far superior to dogs, seeing the languid way he sat in his chair as though they had no reason to be ill at ease around each other, Tobirama thought to himself that for the first time since their wedding he could finally see the man who might someday become a proper husband.

#rae writes #madatobi #madara #tobirama #hashirama #fanfiction

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raendown · 5 years

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Chapter: 8/9 Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 4039 Rated: M Summary: Walking patrol around a university for mages probably sounded like a wild time but Tobirama has never found it all that exciting. He’s not even technically supposed to be here. When responding to a tripped alarm becomes a desperate attempt to stay alive, however, excitement is the last thing on his mind. All he’s ever wanted is a quiet life alone with his books until he finds himself bound to Uchiha Madara in the most impossible way and finally learns to think about more than just himself - in a way.

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KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 8

Cool evening air around them, a heaviness on their skin like the pressure before rain, symmetry in their mind and an ache in their flesh as though they had gone three rounds with a heavyweight champion. Waking was not peaceful but it was better than the darkness that lingered and reached for them still. Voices murmured around them but whatever they were saying wasn’t half as interesting as burrowing in to themselves, arms holding tight and throats humming in quiet protest to the way foreign hands were suddenly petting at their hair.

“Tobi? Madara? Can you hear me?”

“Don’t call us that,” they murmured, unsure why but knowing that was the usual response.

“Oh no, they’re doing it again.” That voice was familiar in more than one way, attached to more than one set of memories, and that was the first hint that something was off.

Another voice that set off the same dual reactions chimed in from somewhere off to the side. “Doing what? Were they talking together like that a lot before?”

“In the beginning, yes.”

“That’s dumb. And weird. Why?”

Without opening their eyes they smiled, two foreheads pressed together, whole and safe and happy. “We are one,” they whispered.

“Oh hell no! Fuck that! I thought I told you two not to be gross whenever I was around!” A hand grabbed at one of their shoulders but the pull lasted only a moment before it was torn away again without shifting them more than an inch to one side.

“No! Izuna, no! You don’t – you can’t know the pain it would cause them! If you love your brother then please do not separate them! It has to be by their own choice or it could do even more damage!”

Brother. The voices continued to babble back and forth but they had already reverted in to their own mind to contemplate that word. Brother. It brought forth so many different feelings, identical and yet so very different, and they associated it with both of the voices speaking close to them…and yet they didn’t. How strange. Brother and yet not brother, sibling and friend and long-standing rival.

The fog of first waking began slowly dissipating for clearer thoughts to seep in. Memories of the days before came to them and the reminder that they were, in fact, two people was as painful as it was necessary. With their eyes still closed they pressed closer together and sighed. Parting as a mere concept was abhorrent but as they gradually remembered who they were they could see more and more why it was necessary to break the perfect harmony of being together. They didn’t have to like it though.

Nor did they have to do so quickly. Izuna could be heard whining about not wanting to lose his brother to the mind of some ‘frosted flaky asshole’ as the two of them very thoroughly said goodbye to each other. It wasn’t like they would be very far away from each other – obviously they didn’t have to move apart if they didn’t want to – but it was different being together like this as one person than being together as two people sitting next to each other yearning to be whole again. Still, there were things beyond their shared consciousness that they wouldn’t be able to experience the right way in this state. Things like properly greeting the brothers they both loved so deeply despite also frequently desiring to murder them.

As they both grimaced at the discomfort of extraction Tobirama nevertheless grasped at the frayed ends of his own self and pulled them all together, inevitably pulling a part of Madara deeper within himself but not caring in the slightest. They had already picked up enough habits from each other because of this bond; a few more wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Will the two of you please just shut up?” he growled. Hashirama spun around to clutch at the covers he just now realized were spread over their legs.

“Tobi? Is that you? Just you I mean?”

“Stop calling me that!”

“It is you!” He threw himself down on the bed with no further questions, trying to draw both of them in to a hug at the same time and fending off their screeching protests with happy smiles.

Standing to one side with an irritable scowl, Izuna eyed his own brother with obvious trepidation until Hashirama was thrown off the bed at last and Madara had a moment to look over and return his crazy expression. With the hand not still clutching tightly to Tobirama he reached out to swat Izuna on whatever body part was in range.

“You can stop making that face,” he snapped. “I would suggest learning to be a bit nicer to Tobirama since this little situation here isn’t going to change any time soon – or ever, if we get our way about it. We’re a package deal now so what you say to him you are saying to me.”

“Whatever, Aniki. Apparently I wasted all that time I spent worrying. If you’re gonna be all preachy about things then maybe I just pack up this investigation of mine and leave!”

“Hashirama won’t pay you if you leave,” Madara deadpanned.

Izuna paused and furrowed his brows, realizing his brother was right. He peeked over at Hashirama, still clinging to his own sibling, but all Hashirama did was shrug apologetically and nod. After only a couple days here and no real leads yet paying him at this point would just be stupid. Seeing that his threat was an empty one Izuna rolled his eyes and slumped down on to a nearby chair. It wasn’t until he did so and brought attention to their surroundings that Tobirama sat up slowly with the realization that they had woken up in the infirmary.

“Who found us?” he asked because clearly someone had.

“Me.” Hashirama raised a hand. “You never gave me a straight answer about Madara’s class so I was coming up a little early in case I had to run down to speak with the substitute before lunch and give him time to prepare. I found you on opposite sides of the lab and you were both unresponsive. It was scary.”

Both of the bonded pair shuddered at the memory, Tobirama falling back to the mattress so they could curl a little closer together. In several hundred years of wielding dangerous magics they had both encountered their fair share of painful moments but nothing would ever compare to that moment when their connection was lost, all sense of their other half blocked by the automatic protective barrier the laboratory seals had dropped in to place.

They weren’t given much time to put those dreadful moments behind them though; Hashirama was well-known by many for his inability to read a room, a habit he freely demonstrated now.

“Was it scary for you guys too?” he asked. Tobirama scoffed and looked over his shoulder.

“I’d love it if you would talk about literally anything else in the world, how’s that for an answer?”

“Seconded.” Madara gave his brother a narrowed eye look, to which Izuna crossed his eyes and exaggerated the same expression back at him.

Hashirama offered them both a sympathetic look that they chose to ignore. Undeterred, he fussed about straightening the blankets around them until they had to shove him away again. Even then he still continued to fiddle with the corners, dodging Tobirama’s slapping fingers, while he nodded towards where Izuna was moodily sliding lower in his chair.

“I had our resident investigative expert check out your lab for foul play so we have a general idea of what happened at least, you guys don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Unfortunately that’s really the only solid thing we learned yesterday.”

“Not true,” Izuna said. “Your seer helped us determine that whoever laid the original seal is here in the castle, at least. That makes it an inside attack.”

“That’s a lot of people to go through, even if we’re just looking at the staff and not including the thousands of students who stay here all year round.” Hashirama shook his head.

“Well you’re the headmaster, you would know your staff best. Let’s make sure these idiots are fine and then you and I can sit down together to go over a list of your staff for possible suspects. I’ve haven’t been here for that long but I’m already sick of watching these two cuddle up like an old married couple; let’s get this shit figured out so I can leave again.” Hauling himself up, Izuna quickly ducked away when Madara and Tobirama both shot up in the bed to reach out and smack him.

After calling Tsunade over it took a bit to convince her that her two patients were okay to leave. She wanted them to stay a while longer for observation but both of them did their best to impress upon her that they would rest much more easily at home. Eventually she gave in to her father’s infamous puppy eyes and allowed them to go, one finger shaking threateningly under her uncle’s nose with instructions to take it easy for at least a day or two and not push themselves to separate again before they were ready. Her descriptions of the mental trauma she expected might result from any more forceful separations was enough to have them promising to take it as easy as she liked.

Crawling out of bed was easy. Making it to the end of the hallway was more difficult. Neither Tobirama nor Madara understood how tired they really were until they closed the door of the infirmary and realized just how far away their rooms were.

With Izuna laughing mercilessly at them the whole way they managed to stumble along the halls, fingers woven together and curled tightly against the fear that one of them might trip and accidentally pull them apart. Several dozen students who knew one or both of them stopped to watch them go by, staring at their entwined hands with the light of gossip in their eyes, but it was easier to ignore this time than it had been before. Having a taste of what it was like to be apart had only affirmed the unspoken agreement that this was just how things would be from here on out. For the rest of their lives it would be the two of them together come what may. Hashirama, at least, could be counted on to support them as he was supporting them now while they straggled their way back home.

Their brothers saw them both tucked in to bed and then headed off together with their attention already turning to which of the staff could possibly have a grudge against either Tobirama or Madara – or even Hashirama himself since he was the one who was originally supposed to be walking patrol duty that evening. It was a surprise that they even remembered to turn off the lights and lock the doors on their way out.

Finally alone again, Madara and Tobirama shuffled under the covers until they were facing each other with their foreheads touching once more before letting themselves drift off for a much needed nap.

Sleep came easily to them, although that wasn’t much of a surprise considering how tired they were. On the journey here Hashirama told them about how their bodies had gone in to shock and begun to seize shortly after they were found so it was no wonder they were feeling exhausted despite not having done anything for a solid twelve hours. In fact, it was probably lucky that neither of them were injured in any way, no bitten tongues and no heads bashed against the concrete while they jerked about uncontrollably.

The bedroom was golden with late afternoon sunlight when they finally woke up again and the covers so warm that moving out from underneath them felt like an impossibility. With no one here to remind them it took more than fifteen minutes for them to remember to pull back in to their own minds and remember who they were separately.

Laying so close together gave Tobirama an excellent excuse to trace his eyes along the planes of Madara’s face and admire the shape of his jaw, the curved cheekbones that gave him the appearance of permanent chubby cheeks and always made him look cute instead of angry when he puffed them out with rage. Tobirama studied the dark color of the eyes looking back at him and the sweeping lashes that framed them. Quiet thoughts about what Izuna had said yesterday morning crept in before he could stop them and, as close as they were both pressed against the barrier between their minds, he knew Madara would be able to hear what he was thinking.

He hated to admit it, just like he hated to admit any time Izuna was right about something, but there was a possibility that some of those things they had both denied so vehemently were true. Now that he took a few moments to really think about it he thought that perhaps they had gotten closer than he realized – and in ways he hadn’t at all expected.

Right now with his consciousness still very close to slipping right over in to Madara’s was probably not a great time to discover the fact that he might actually have romantic feelings for his partner that he probably hadn’t noticed until now simply because their bond made everything between them feel so natural and right. In that way it did make sense to him that he would fall hard and fast, much more so than if he wasn’t able to see Madara’s true self and how compatible they really were.

It wasn’t quite shame that painted his cheeks red since there was little point in being ashamed of anything between them but more of a general embarrassment for being the one to prove them both wrong after they denied feeling anything romantic for each other. Still, he held Madara’s gaze when he saw the man’s eyebrows slide up with momentary disbelief and listened carefully to the way his thoughts stopped to consider the idea. The genuine curiosity and the fact that there was no hesitance or mocking in his thoughts would have given Tobirama pause if he hadn’t spent so long at this point getting to know the man behind the scowl that he himself had once mocked so easily. Not that it failed entirely to surprise him but he was still touched in a way he couldn’t explain.

More than touched, he felt the first stirrings of hope when Madara’s curiosity rose like a cresting wave. When his partner shifted and ducked down to tentatively press their lips together he held as still as he possibly could for the first few seconds, afraid to ruin the moment, as if by simply twitching wrong he could drive Madara away from him and make the other realize what he was doing.

Their first kiss was quite possibly the softest thing Tobirama had ever experienced in his life, a slow glide of soft lips, limbs shifting to wrap around each other as tightly as they could. Slave to the drive for as much contact as possible, Madara pushed himself up to roll Tobirama on to his back. Listening to the thoughts passing back and forth between them meant that Tobirama was on board with that almost before the movement had begun. Madara touched his shoulder and he rolled without having to wait for the pressure asking him to do so. Having a thigh on either side of him and the weight of his partner pressing him down in to the mattress made him feel safe, grounded, and the sheer rightness of it left his mind free to concentrate on the incredible warmth of their kiss.

Apparently Madara was enjoying the experience as much as he was, pleasantly surprised sensations filling them both as he cocked his head for a better angle and very carefully drew Tobirama’s bottom lip in between his teeth for a light nibble. They groaned at the same time and that was their clue for what was happening.

Far too connected, their physical reactions were caught in a feedback loop where everything experienced by one was shared with the other. Tobirama pressed one hand in the center of Madara’s chest but his partner only pulled back a single inch.

“Is this- are we sure you’re not just interested in whatever this is because I am?” he asked quietly, scared of the answer but knowing that he had to ask anyway.

“Of course I’m interested because you are,” Madara said. Before Tobirama could panic he scoffed and added, “But who’s to say it’s not you that’s interested because I am and you were just the one to figure it out? That’s the whole point, Tobirama. We’re intertwined, we’re one, everything you feel I feel too. If you laugh then I laugh. If you love…then I love.”

Without the words to properly express himself Tobirama settled for pulling Madara down to meet him once more. Obviously he had been around the block a time or two in these matters but he would have felt confident even without any prior experience in saying that nothing had ever felt quite as good as having Madara’s tongue trace the shape of his bottom lip while blunt fingers drew shapes along the lines of his ribs. And by the sensations passing back to him through their bond he gathered that Madara very much approved of the way he used his own hands to skim the length of the spine arching above him.

The first time Madara rocked down against him it was hard to tell if he was being flooded with his own pleasure or his partner’s – or even both at the same time in equal force – but he found it hard to care when it felt so good that he could do nothing but shift his hands down to grip the man’s waist and encourage him to repeat the motion. Their bodies rolled together in perfect sync. Within moments Tobirama was lost to the rhythm.

It should have come as no surprise when the edges began to blur, when the separation between the two of them grew slowly indistinct. Each caress of their hands and every movement of their bodies was experienced by both of them until eventually Tobirama could no longer tell which hand was his own or whether he was the one to initiate a movement. Still he clung tighter in whatever ways he could with what limbs he thought might be his own, more and more desperate, never satisfied and always hungry for another touch. It was hard to tell whether that hunger was his own or not but he felt no qualms with following it.

Pleasure running rampant and unchecked through their veins, neither of them were paying much attention to the fact that they were perhaps getting a little too close until between one moment and the next it stopped mattering. The sensations melted together as one or both of them slipped across the barrier and they were together in the most perfect way.

From then it no longer mattered who was touching where. What mattered was that it felt good and it felt right. Hands pulled away clothes and lips pressed in to skin. Tongues and nails teased the places no one else knew about while one of their other hands reached out to dig in a nearby drawer for the half full bottle of lube they knew had to be somewhere close. Soft shameless noises dripped from their lips as fingers were slicked and one of their bodies was slowly worked open.

Which body wasn’t important. Identity wasn’t important. They both felt the pleasure of being stretched and filled as they moved together and they both felt the heat coiling in their bellies like nothing they had ever experienced before. When they peaked they did so as one massive flood of pleasure crashing down over them, muscles clenching and voices crying out together, two sets of eyes open wide yet seeing nothing but each other. There was no word in their shared mind to describe the incredible sensation except ‘perfect’.

Coming down from the high was as unique as building it up had been. At some point whoever had been inside the other slipped away and they both fell to their sides once more to wind around each other with as many limbs as possible.

Oddly, detangling their minds in that moment felt nowhere near as terrible as it usually would, perhaps because one of them felt as though they had a point to make to the other and even though that point was made as easily as thinking about it when they were still joined in this way that just wasn’t the same as saying it out loud. It did still take a bit of effort to figure out which thoughts belonged to who and what name went where but after several slow minutes they were staring in to each other’s eyes and Tobirama found it impossible to look away from the expression on Madara’s face.

“That was…intense,” his partner murmured and Tobirama couldn’t help but agree.

“I would feel embarrassed about the poor showing for my stamina but honestly I don’t know if I could survive that much intensity over long periods of time.”

“Yes I think quick but incredible trumps long but mediocre any day of the week.” Madara took a moment to stare at him again before he asked softly, “Does it really matter where the feelings came from as long as we both feel them?”

Tobirama rolled his eyes. “I suppose not. This is all just…very fast. Logically I know that anything I can do you can keep up with since we’ve both got the power of two brains to work with but…”

“But you can’t help but worry. I get it. ‘What if’ is in your nature, I suppose, what with all the experiments you do and all the research papers you’ve written. Sometimes I’m surprised you haven’t discovered the inner workings of the entire world yet just from asking too many questions.”

Squirming in place, Tobirama hummed. “I feel like I have the energy to go do it,” he mumbled.

Which was true. He’d never been one of those men who came once and then passed out. Sex had always left him feeling energized and after such an intense orgasm as the one he’d just experienced he felt like he could take on the world itself. Madara, on the other hand, was definitely one of the ones that always wanted a nap afterwards. He still made an effort to sit up and look around to see where their clothing had gotten to, bringing one leg out of the blankets to discover a pair of underwear not his own hooked around his ankle.

“I’ll come sit in the lab with you if you stay in one place so I can just sleep on the table or something.”

“Deal,” Tobirama agreed. “I might even have something soft in there you can use as a pillow.”

“Actually I was planning to just fall asleep on your shoulder.”

“Oh. Yes that…that would be preferable.” They smiled at each other and Tobirama sat up as well to capture a kiss from those inviting lips.

This was indeed all happening very fast but he supposed there was no point in denying a truth once it had been discovered. Whether it was that the connection left them no choice but to fall for each other or that it had simply shown them how compatible they really are and the feelings were all their own, wondering about it was truly pointless. All he should care about was that they did love each other – and that Izuna could never know it was his words that had sparked the beginning of these discoveries.

Just because they had found their happiness didn’t mean they had to do something as disgusting as spread it around.

#rae writes #madatobi #madara #tobirama #izuna #hashirama #fanfiction

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