It suddenly rains. Tobi glances up at the sky, clicking his tongue in annoyance when the first few drops of rain hit the ground in front of him. He quickly stands, taking a step back to re-enter the inn room to prevent any splashes getting onto his cloak, leaving the balcony to its lonesome.
He slides the door shut, making sure it's locked before turning around. When the masked nin has the second to take in the room, he finds his partner sitting at the only desk in the middle, his legs crossed as the rest of his gear lay on the tatami that cover the entire floor, forgotten.
The clay pouch seems to be open, but Tobi could see by the deflated size that it is nearly empty — if not, completely so. They've had a run-in while trying to look for a place to stay.
As he decides on whether or not to approach the blonde, Tobi thinks about how glad he is to not be Hidan at the moment. Even with the sudden overcast, Tobi is sure that Kakuzu would refuse to find a shelter that must be paid to enter.
Deidara doesn't even flinch when Tobi sits down in front of him, crossed legged. The masked-nin watches carefully as he twists a nail polish bottle's cap off, dragging the tiny brush against the edge to wipe off excess polish.
As he is about to apply it on, Tobi notices how shaky Deidara's hand is. Must've taken a lot of work trying to mold clay as well as scrape off the chipping nail polish from his nails before applying a new coat.
In an act of something Tobi doesn't really know, he reaches out and takes the brush from Deidara's hand, grabbing his left hand while he's at it.
Deidara doesn't complain for some reason, watching Tobi with tired eyes as the latter begins gently painting the artist's index nail.
The room is quiet with the exception of the rhythmic pelting of the roof and window pane from the rain outside, and a clock that ticks its gears every second. The ambience seems to stretch on like this for years, time slowing to a near halt as the two men co-exist with each other for the first time without criticism or argument, only silence.
But Deidara breaks the silence with his words, though not the peace.
"You were prepared, hmm," Deidara says quietly, calmly. Tobi almost misses it because he isn't even really paying attention, despite only being one nail down.
"Senpai?" Tobi asks, not stopping his painting. He dips the brush into the jar again, applying a second coat over the index nail to make sure it's all smooth.
"For the attackers," Deidara clarifies, although it's his fault in the first place for being vague. Tobi could have been prepared for anything in any given time as long as it's in the past for whatever context Deidara is referring to. "You didn't seem as surprised when they leaped out at us, yeah."
"They weren't exactly hiding their presence," Tobi replies, a cheery tone. "Anyone could have sensed them from miles away. I didn't say 'cause I thought they weren't a problem."
Deidara ignores the sing-song tone his partner puts his voice in, only watching quietly as his nails get painted. "I didn't sense them, hmm," Deidara mutters, the meaning of the sentence not lost in the masked ninja.
The blonde is realizing for, perhaps simply the second time, that Tobi isn't just a carefree idiot who cannot defend himself, that he is capable of multiple of things that earned him his S-rank label in the first place. Deidara isn't the stronger one here. He never has been. And he is struggling with the loss of superiority, despite Tobi never once tried to lead the battle.
Other than the one they got in just now.
In retrospect, it's completely Deidara's fault for not paying attention to his surroundings. He isn't trained to do that, too, so he has no one else to blame but himself. Tobi shakes his head, pushing that thought away. No, his character as Tobi would cheer his 'senpai' up, not bring him down further by criticizing him.
"It's not your fault, senpai," Tobi says, not looking up at the blonde as he continues to apply a coat of strong-smelling paint onto the nails. "I'm a sensor type ninja, after all."
A not-entirely-false little lie won't harm the artist. There isn't really any reason for Deidara to know the entire truth. And might as well keep quiet until the blonde asks, or else the illusion of Deidara being in charge would shatter forever.
In an attempt to change the mood when Tobi realizes his senpai's souring mood, the orange masked ninja scrambles his brain to find another conversation topic. Normally, he doesn't have much to say. 'Tobi' is the person who would run his mouth even when it's not appropriate, and he only has a set amount of dialogues thought up beforehand to suit this persona. The moment Deidara had made it clear he didn't want Tobi to bother him with his stupid talking, he walked out to the balcony.
Besides, the hotel room is boring and Tobi couldn't tell his senpai to look at a clock and pester him about how it sort of looks like his art again. Instead, Tobi says the first thing that comes to his mind, cringing when the sentence leaves his mouth. "So, senpai, when's your birthday?"
Deidara doesn't say anything, his gaze moving from his nails to stare at the impassive orange mask with swirling patterns. His blue eyes narrow down at the slight cracks and scars that the material has received after numerous times of abuse. "I don't have one, hmm." he simply says when he tears his gaze away from the miniature lines.
"Don't be silly, senpai," Tobi sing songs again, almost whistling at this point. He stops painting Deidara's nails, making the younger a little irritated. He waves the tiny brush in front of the artist's face, almost like he's emphasizing his point of Deidara being silly. "Everyone has a birthday. We all come from somewhere, even if we end up being no one afterward."
Deidara stares at the brush pointed directly at his nose, gritting his teeth. He then shifts his gaze to stare at Tobi's mask again, trying to make out an eye from the eyehole but is once again only greeted by darkness. He doesn't answer until Tobi puts down the brush to dab it into the jar again, recoating the little bristles with paint.
When Tobi applies a new layer on top of his nail, Deidara sighs. "It's passed," he says, supporting his head with his right hand. His gaze trails back to Tobi painting his nails.
"Of course it's passed, it's near the end of the year, senpai," Tobi says almost matter-of-factly. "Almost everyone's birthday has passed by now - even mine! Say, if I tell you my birthday, you can tell me yours. Fair trade, right? So, my birthday's on February tenth!"
Deidara clicks his tongue, growing a little irritated, but couldn't help feel a strange feeling grow inside of him. No one has asked him his birthday since his neighbor back when his parents were still alive. "I didn't say I wanted to know your birthday," Deidara mutters, ignoring the way Tobi whines out 'senpai' when he finishes that sentence. He speaks before Tobi says anything else. "Fine. My birthday's on the fifth of May, yeah."
"See? Wasn't that easy?" Tobi says through a smile, making Deidara click his tongue and roll his eyes, although he too sported a small smile.
"Yeah, yeah." Deidara shakes his head slightly.
They fall into a small conversation after that, mostly talking about birthdays. Tobi doesn't say much about his own, and Deidara didn't go his way to ask about it. Deidara doesn't really go too far into his past, either. He doesn't really know what to do with the knowledge of happiness, so he usually pushes it to the back of his mind. He knows happiness doesn't last long in a world like this.
But still, Deidara allows himself to enjoy the moment he's having with Tobi right now, the masked ninja could tell. He doesn't even have to voice it when he finishes painting all the nails on Deidara's left hand. The bomber moves to give him his right and Tobi takes it gladly.
"Why do you think the guys who attacked us were there, anyway, hmm?" Deidara asks, and it's the first time he has ever asked Tobi for his opinion since they've known each other, way before Sasori died.
"There doesn't seem to be any way for them to know we're part of the Akatsuki," Tobi muses, carefully guiding the brush to coat even the tricky area where the flesh hugs the nail without getting any paint on Deidara's finger. "They're probably just bandits by the look of it. We didn't really have time to check their gear out, so..."
They really didn't. If they lingered too long and their enemy happened to belong to a larger organization, it'll be game over for them. It isn't something they'd risk, especially when Deidara had used up all of his clay. For bandits, though, they were pretty formidable. Tobi is pretty sure by now that they were bandits, now that he's thinking about it. They looked surprised when he and Deidara fought back - and ultimately won - which meant they should be only used to civilians passing by this cozy little town. Makes sense why they didn't bother trying to hide their presence, let alone chakra signatures.
Deidara makes a noise of annoyance, shaking his head while he's at it. "Cowards," Deidara chides. "If you want to rob someone, you should do it face-to-face."
"But you use stealth attacks, too, senpai." Tobi points out, making Deidara irritated at him again.
"That's different, Tobi," Deidara says, waving his free hand dismissively. "I didn't do it before joining, hmm. Besides, how stealthy are explosions, anyway, yeah? I love a scene, so I don't bother trying to be 'stealthy.'" Deidara does air quotes with his left hand when he says the word 'stealthy,' emphasizing the word.
"Yes, yes, senpai." Tobi nods, but he knows Deidara can tell he's being sarcastic.
"Listen here, Tobi, hmm," Deidara says, knocking Tobi's mask with his index and middle knuckles. "It doesn't matter how I attack people, or how I used to rob them. What matters is that I got to use my art, and they got to witness it in close proximity, first-hand. It's basically an honor, hmm!"
Tobi regards Deidara for half a second, neither of them talking within that heartbeat. Tobi finishes up painting Deidara's nails, screwing the brush back into the jar, shoving the entire nail polish bottle back into Deidara's bag.
"Didn't senpai promise me you'll teach me how to do your sculptures?" Tobi says softly this time when he notices the time. He knew it was late when they walked in here, but he didn't realize exactly how long he and Deidara had been talking.
He could feel Deidara look at him, and Tobi looks back, his head tilts to the side as he does.
"Tomorrow, yeah," Deidara says. "If you don't annoy me when we walk, I'll teach you by the time lunch comes by, hmm."
"Hooray, senpai!" Tobi cheers, pouncing over to the blonde in an attempt to hug him.
"Hey! Hey! Stop! You're going to ruin the paint! They're not dry yet, you fucker!" Deidara complains, raising his hands in the air and rolling to avoid Tobi's embrace. "You're annoying me right now, hmm! I'm not going to teach you tomorrow!"
"Aw, you're being mean, senpai," Tobi complains, but it's cut short by a kick in the shin.
Outside, the rain still falls, pattering against the roof and window pane, the only other noise besides the two bickering ninjas inside the room. And though everything's covered in the gray light of rain, there's more color now than there was before either of them knew each other, mixing together like two tipped over bottles of orange and yellow nail polish.