#madata

Chapter 7: Of Motley Crews and Shocking News

Hashirama was asleep by the time the credits were rolling, snoring up at the ceiling with his head dropped against the back of the couch. It was hard to tell whether or not the ruckus bothered Mito as she too had fallen asleep all curled up in his arms. Her slighter stature against his massive frame looked rather like a grown man cuddling an oversized teddy bear – albeit a very pretty teddy bear.

Although the demonic cat had long deigned to give up its perch on the armchair Izuna lay passed out on the floor in front of it, head resting on the seat cushion with what remained of the second batch of popcorn loosely balanced in his lap. Tobirama eyed the teetering bowl and gave some thought to rescuing it but that would have required moving and he was decidedly against moving so much as an inch from the spot he had somehow found himself in. If time stopped and he could stretch this moment out in to forever, it would certainly not be a bad moment to choose.

He wasn’t sure how Madara ended up sharing the armchair with him. Maybe it was just that neither of them much wanted to go anywhere near the too-happy couple spread out on the couch. Actually, now that he thought about it, that was probably why. Still, having Madara pressed up against his side like a living bonfire and murmuring commentary on the movie in his ear for the past hour had been the most pleasant torture he had ever endured.

Now the movie was over and everyone else was asleep. It was the perfect time to bring up the conversation he’d been waiting for ever since he overheard Izuna earlier. The only problem was that he was too comfy to move.

“Do you ever worry he’ll drown in his own drool?” Madara asked, voice quiet and rumbling, breath ghosting across Tobirama’s ear like a lover’s caress. It took a great deal of effort not to shiver violently.

“No,” he whispered back. “If that was a danger he would have done so years ago.”

“Is there any more wine in the pantry?”

“Probably.” Tobirama frowned, sensing that Madara was about to disturb their little cocoon of warmth, but his displeasure did nothing to dim the smile on his companion’s face.

Madara’s grin was a little sloppy after four glasses. Still pretty, though. His body wriggled in all sorts of interesting ways as he fought his way out of the armchair. It was fairly large but it still wasn’t meant to hold two grown men and their hips had wedged together fairly tightly between the two sides. If he were any braver he might have revisited Izuna’s suggestion earlier that one of them perch across the other’s lap. Unfortunately he was not brave enough to risk that Madara would have any interest in him before having the whole ‘soulmates’ conversation.

Why did flirting and the like have to be so complicated?

As soon as Madara wrenched himself free and wobbled towards the kitchen Tobirama scrunched his nose against the cold sensation in the right half of his body, unsure if he was missing the heat or the man more. It took only one look around at the rest of their motley crew to convince him to get up and follow. Unless he was going to pop in another movie there was little point in hanging around and listening to the chorus of snoring. Besides, he could just as easily watch Netflix on his laptop in the comfort of his own room if that was what he was after.

He found Madara struggling with the cork he had wedged back in too far after his last glass, muttering curse words under his breath when the stubborn thing wouldn’t come out again. It was stupidly endearing to watch him frown and tell the bottle it was being a jerk.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Tobirama blurted before giving it much thought. Madara paused in his efforts to blink owlishly at him.

“Oh?”

“Just, uh, not here. Come on.” Snatching the bottle away, he set it on the counter and took hold of Madara’s wrist instead to pull him down the hallway. If anyone woke up while they were having their little chat then he would prefer not to be interrupted before they at least got to the important bits – or in case Madara was gracious enough to let Tobirama kiss him.

Seeing the curious expression, he allowed Madara a few moments to look around after shutting them in to his bedroom, following the path of his gaze to see which things he seemed to focus on. The neatly made bed earned a smile, the over-stuffed bookcase a raised eyebrow. The scale replica of the SS Enterprise tucked away in the corner of one shelf made him snort. If Tobirama weren’t perfectly fine with his own geeky nature he might have taken offense to that. It wasn’t his fault science was cool.

Finally he decided that Madara had looked enough and cleared his throat to draw the man’s attention. He cracked a smile of his own at the slightly guilty look he received, easily waving it away before stepping closer.

“I overheard our brothers talking earlier while we were in the kitchen. It’s so rare for anyone to be related to their platonic soulmate, haven’t you ever wondered at the fact that we’re both matched to our siblings that way?” Tobirama gave his companion a significant look, to which Madara only shrugged.

“No, I never really thought about it.”

“Well I did and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Do you know what I overheard?”

Madara tilted his head but said nothing, giving Tobirama time to slowly take in a deep breath before saying words he never dreamed he would be able to say to this man.

“They believe we’re soulmates.”

“WHAT!?”

“Keep it down,” Tobirama hissed. “Don’t wake them all up or we’ll have all three of them in here to witness this conversation! I don’t know about you but I would rather have a little privacy!”

“But you just said–!”

“I know what I said!”

Madara stared at him, eyes wide and unblinking to the point that Tobirama began to worry they would dry out. His jaw opened and shut rapidly several times. Finally, just when Tobirama was considering backing off to give him the space to think, he snapped out of it with a wild shake of his head and a noise that sounded like every letter of the alphabet coming out all at once.

“You think we’re soulmates!?” he cried, his volume notably lower than before. Tobirama nodded slowly.

“That’s what I believe they said. I’m sure I heard correctly.”

“But we’ve known each other for ages. Wouldn’t they have been, you know, trying to tell us somehow?”

With a roll of his eyes, Tobirama murmured, “Evidently Izuna seemed to think it was funny to crash any plans Hashirama tried to make with him.”

“I’ll kill him. I’ll strangle the little rat!”

“Hashirama, I’m not sure about. I’d like to think I would notice if he were trying to…to…oh.” Pausing to sigh, he rubbed tiredly at the bridge of his nose. “I did think it was strange for him to be setting me up on a blind date. And how convenient that you just happened to be there as well. Seated at the next table. Also stood up.”

Madara gnashed his teeth together. “Izuna. He interrupted on purpose!”

“For now, can we agree that we’re related to some very suspect morons and just set it aside for a bit? There are much more important matters we should be discussing.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, like whether or not you’re okay with this.”

He was almost startled by the way Madara reeled back in shock at his words. “W-why would I not be?” The question left him feeling awkward, like a little boy with his very first crush. He only barely resisted the urge to drop his eyes to the side with embarrassment as he answered.

“It’s not that I thought you wouldn’t be okay with it. I just haven’t noticed any enthusiasm for the idea, really. What I mean is – ugh. Look. If you’re not interested, that’s fine.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Madara growled. Tobirama would have snapped back at him with his usual scathing retort if not for the hands that twisted in to his collar and dragged him down to where Madara could tilt his own chin up and crash their lips together. Had he ever noticed how adorable it was that Madara was so much shorter than him? If he wanted to he could have tucked the man under his own chin – and that was definitely not what he should be thinking about while they share what was hopefully only the first kiss.

Evidently his partner noticed how distracted he was. Tobirama snickered a little at the insistent tug on his collar, reaching up to cover those hands with his own and draw his thumb across warm skin soothingly. Then he tilted his head ever so slightly to find a better angle and gave Madara the kiss he so obviously wanted. He would have been smug about the toe-curling groan he managed to drag out of the other man if not for the sound he made which almost perfectly echoed it. At least they were even, he thought distractedly as they slowly pulled away from each other.

Then he jerked upright with a gasp when Madara smacked him in the face – gently, but it was still a smack.

“Dumbass! I wanted you before I knew we were soulmates!”

“Oh. Really?”

“Are you blind!? Yes! Would I have let anyone else away with their life after watching me smash myself in the head like that earlier?”

Smiling freely with relief, Tobirama brushed his fingers over Madara’s forehead, sweeping the fringe aside. “How are you, by the way? No more ouchies?”

“Fuck you. I’m fine.”

“Alright, alright. Forgive a man for worrying about his soulmate.” Tobirama smirked when, as he’d thought, Madara melted at his words. He graciously decided against saying anything about it, choosing instead to wind his arms around his new partner and hold him close.

Tobirama was still working up the courage to go in for a second kiss when they both stiffened at the sound of a loud thump from the living room. Without moving they turned their heads to the doorway and listened to Izuna’s hysterical laughter, accompanied by Mito’s softer voice murmuring indistinctly in a soothing manner. By context clues alone Tobirama could already tell what happened. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Hashirama had fallen asleep on the couch and then rolled off. Really the only thing to worry about was whether he had disturbed his cast or not.

He did worry a little when Hashirama’s booming voice wondered where the two of them had gotten to. Once someone checked the kitchen there wasn’t that many other options for where they could be hiding. Very briefly he wondered if the others would leave them be if he and Madara laid down in the bed and pretended to sleep. He discarded the idea almost as soon as he thought of it. None of them had that much mercy in their souls.

“In here, Anija,” he called, already exhausted just at the thought of how his brother was going to react. Madara twitched in his arms.

“What are you doing!?”

“They’ll find us in a minute anyway; we might as well face the music now.” Tobirama shrugged and then smiled when his soulmate eyes the window with a very serious expression. “I wouldn’t if I were you. Hashirama planted a thorny rosebush under that window in my first year of college.”

“Uh…why?”

“I kept sneaking out to go back to the library for more books.”

Madara was silent but there was a truly impressive amount of judgement in his stare.

“Tell you what,” Tobirama offered in a pacifying tone. “How about I do all the explaining?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure, that’d be nice.”

Madara shrugged unsuspectingly as footsteps approached the room, prompting Tobirama to nod once in satisfaction. Then he dipped his partner backwards and stole that second kiss he’d been thinking about just as the door swung open.