Obito doesn't like traveling.
There's just something uncomfortable about frantically having to pack everything up without forgetting something, the worry you get when you can't immediately catch sight of your suitcase, the discomfort of sitting in an upright position no matter the duration of your trip (because he's not rich enough to get First Class).
However, nothing beats having to stay overnight at the airport because the weather decides to throw a one-eighty curveball at the forecasts.
He drops his hand carry bag beside him as he stares helplessly out of the giant window, the announcement still ringing loud and clear in his mind.
Snow. Seriously?
England doesn't get something like this in nearly a decade or so and the moment he has to fly back home to Japan, the sky decides to open up and dump at least ten inches of snow on to the ground, or whatever.
He just thinks that it is totally unfair. He has a home to go to and he also promised his landlord he would pay his bills tomorrow.
Cursing under his breath, Obito leans down to pick up his bag. He turns and begins to walk around aimlessly around the airport, trying to find a good spot to lay down. He thinks that it would be better to just take a nap and get time moving as quickly as it could. There's nothing else to do in this godforsaken place anyway.
After walking around for what feels like at least half an hour, he finally spots an empty bench, which happens to be underneath the display screen for future flights. It doesn't surprise him when he sees that any and all flights are canceled or delayed, or set to be re-routed since most flights are full. He makes a bee-line for the bench, putting down his bag in one of the seats and flopping down on another one.
Once settled, Obito surveys the area with one wide swipe of his head. There are a lot of others just like him, lounging around in the airport waiting for their replacement flight announcement, or frantically pacing back and forth whilst on their phones, chatting with whoever might be on the other line. He did see a couple of people just pack up and leave the place, probably heading toward the closest hotels.
He isn't exactly familiar with the places around London, but he's very sure that any place they get now isn't cheap. Obito shakes his head lightly, turning his attention back to his things and reaching for his bag to fish out a book amongst his laptops and jackets.
He doesn't even get to open it when he senses someone walk up to him, standing rather awkwardly at his feet.
At first, Obito thinks that the person is just looking up at the display screen, perhaps trying to double-check if their plane is canceled or delayed, or rerouted to another one, but after a while of silence, Obito isn't quite convinced of his own theory.
He stops fingering the edge of his book and looks up at the presence, shocked to find a blonde standing there.
"Excuse me, are you Japanese, yeah?" the person speaks in Japanese, ending it in a strange nasally grunt that Obito thinks must be a speech impediment of some sort.
Now that he mentions it, the person does look Japanese. Aside from the long mop of golden hair underneath his beanie, of course. He must have bleached it. Obito shifts the grip of his book, a collection of short stories, written in Japanese.
Of course. His appearance probably made him approach and his book just reassured him to talk.
"Yes," he replies, sitting up slightly straighter in his chair, wondering what the person might want.
"That's a relief," the person says, physically relaxing, shoulders slumping and he looks almost like he's falling into himself. "My name is Deidara. I think I am on the same flight as you if you're heading back to Japan."
"Perhaps," Obito responds. He holds his book in his right hand and reaches for his bag with his left, shoving it back inside. There's no point in reading now. He could tell from the way the person — Deidara — is speaking that he has no intentions of leaving him alone anytime soon.
He pauses for a second, settling back into his seat. "My name is Obito," he introduces himself. It would be rude if he doesn't, seeing as Deidara already did. "What's wrong?"
"You can tell, huh?" Deidara laughs, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. "I don't really like the airport much, hm."
"Not a big fan of flying?" Obito smiles, gesturing to the empty seat beside him.
Deidara takes the hint and moves to sit down next to him, putting his bag between his legs. "Yeah, you can say that. I always think it's kind of stupid for me to be afraid of flying, but I can't stop thinking about how high up we are, and how heavy the plane is, hm."
Obito lets out a good-humored laugh, nodding along to Deidara's words. "I understand," he says. "It's natural to feel afraid of flying with so many terrifying news reports of disappearing aircraft and all… but, erm, I don't understand why you said it's stupid for you to be afraid."
"Oh, uh," Deidara seems suddenly shocked, turning away from him and watching something across the room instead. The airport is buzzing with activity, mostly complaints to either employees or family members on phones. It is certainly something Obito is not used to at this time of the hour. "You caught that, huh? Well, it's nothing, really. It's sort of like my life philosophy, that life is fleeting and there's no point in really prolonging something that isn't made to live long."
Obito nods, suddenly finding this person very interesting indeed. "What are you in England for?" he asks.
Deidara turns back to him, looking at him with a pensive expression and blinks at the sudden change of topic but otherwise doesn't seem to think it weird. He shrugs a little and then looks away once more, pink tongue peeking out between his lips that Obito finds almost adorable.
"I study here, yeah," he says, saying it like it's almost something he's not very proud of. "Art. I'm in my final year, hm."
Obito nods once more. It's hard to really find a great art university back in Japan. "Going back home already? It's a bit early." It's the only reason why he'd be on a flight at this time of year.
"Oh, no, not like that, hm," Deidara shrugs, leaning back against his chair and finally turning his head to Obito's general direction. Obito wonders if this person is quite shy. "I'm only going back for a week. Family emergency."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No, nothing like that, yeah. They just want me to attend a wedding and it's super important because he's the only guy in the family who has a chance of carrying on the family name. I think my parents just want me to go there to further rub it in my face, hm."
Obito blanks for a moment, finding himself unable to keep up with the conversation. He thought himself great at picking up subtle clues in everyday dialogue, but in this case, he finds himself questioning his own title.
Deidara turns to him, perhaps wondering about the silence, and then tucks his lips between his teeth to suppress a smile. "I guess I'm better at hiding it than I thought, hm, or your gaydar is just really bad."
He remains quiet as Deidara's words sink in. It isn't a moment later that his eyes widen and he just blinks, once, twice, then he leans back and lets out a laugh that resembles a puff of air more than anything else.
"Well, I guess my gaydar is just really bad," he says with breathy laughs. "You know, I never thought my old man was gay until I walked in on him making out with his best friend, for the third time."
"Wait, seriously?"
"No," Obito laughs earnestly now. "I'm joking."
"You're joking, yeah? You bastard," Deidara grins, shaking his head.
"You believed me."
"Of course, I believed you, yeah! I didn't know!" Deidara scoffs and waves his hand at him as though to dispel the conversation. "What about you, then, hm? What are you in England for?"
Obito presses his mouth into a thin smile, reaching up to scratch at his chin, thinking long and deep and wondering how he should answer his new friend. Well, there's no point in telling lies, now.
"Work," Obito eventually says.
"Work, huh? What kind of work?"
"Work surrounding the law."
"'Work surrounding the law'?" Deidara echoes, raising a thin and equally blonde eyebrow. That's interesting, it would mean that he doesn't bleach his hair, then. "How mysterious, hm."
"You're quite mysterious yourself," Obito observes, leaning forward a bit to rest his head on his hand. He admires the way a few loose strands of hair slip from underneath Deidara's beanie and tickles his cheek, and that in return Deidara would lift a hand — unconsciously — to push those stands behind his ear.
"Really, yeah?" Deidara says and Obito likes the way he is pushing hair behind his ear again.
"No," Obito grins. "You're the stereotypical art student."
Deidara seems to take notice of that comment and sits up a little straighter, hand trailing to tangle itself in his own hair and Obito wonders what his dainty hands would feel like winding themselves against his scalp.
He snaps back to reality when Deidara speaks.
"What do you mean by that, yeah?"
"Well, first of all, you're gay," Obito says, raising each finger as he counts. "Second of all, you're wearing a hoodie, with jeans that have paint or some other stuff on them."
As Deidara listens to everything Obito names, he seems to look down at himself to check the honesty in his words.
"And you're really weird. 'I'm afraid of airports,'" Obito finishes, echoing what Deidara said earlier at the beginning of their conversation.
Deidara scoffs, leaning back with a huff and grabs at one of the strings of his hoodie, twirling it in his hands. "I told you why I don't like airports, hm. You said you understood!"
"Yeah, but it doesn't make it less weird that you decide to hang out with a complete stranger so it would take the edge off," Obito grins. "You don't know anything about me. I could be an axe murderer."
"Sure, the first hot guy I see that happens to also be Japanese has to be an axe murderer, hm."
"Murphy's Law," Obito shrugs.
"That would mean that you'd have to have already buried an axe in my neck, yeah."
"Don't think you can just say that and hope I would gloss over the fact that you called me hot."
Deidara turns away and Obito swears he could see a flush spreading across his cheeks. Obito wonders if he's made things awkward because he's pointed it out. Maybe he didn't even mean to let it slip.
"It was just an observation… yeah," Deidara says and Obito is obsessed with the way he bites his lower lip.
"An extremely accurate observation," Obito grins and it feels like the awkward tension between them breaks.
"You think?" Deidara peeks his tongue out again.
"Yeah," Obito nods, reaching over to drape an arm around his bag. "Are you really afraid of the airport?"
"Come on! I already told you, hm!" Deidara scowls, no longer slightly playful. "Yes, I don't like the airport. Maybe saying I'm scared of it is a ploy to gain your favor, so stop bringing it up, hm!"
"A ploy to gain my favor, huh?"
"Yeah because you look like those creepy uncles who prey on young boys."
Obito almost chokes on his own spittle at that. "Really? Should I be offended by that comment?"
"It's up to you, yeah," Deidara says, sticking out his tongue. That cheeky bastard.
"How old are you, anyway?"
"I'm turning twenty-two in two months, hm."
"Really? You're twenty-one? I thought you said you were in your last year of university."
"Yeah, I am. English majors only last for three years."
Obito purses his lips, nodding along to Deidara's words. "I didn't know that."
"You work here and you don't know that?"
"I don't work here— I mean, I rarely work here. This is a sort of business trip, you know?"
Deidara nods, blinking slowly at him and only now does Obito notice that his eyes are blue. He must have a lot of fun fitting into a racial group at school, or perhaps his Japanese nationality and his Caucasian ethnicity are what makes him the more… exotic type at school.
"How many times have you been to England, yeah?"
"Less than three times," Obito replies thoughtfully. "I've been here once, when I was a little kid, as a sort of summer vacation with some of my cousins and uncles or whatever, but I don't really remember much of it and it was just for a couple of days. I don't count that as really being here."
Deidara nods. "I guess that makes sense, hm," he shuffles back against the chair and lifts both his knees to his chest, shoes already off and feet resting on the seat. Obito could see that he's stifling a yawn.
"You tired?" He asks, even though it should be obvious.
Deidara scoffs at him, resting his chin on his knees and Obito could see one piercing blue eye stare at him through a golden curtain. "What do you think, genius? I had to spend half a day getting here and it's nearly one in the morning, hm."
"Jeez, I didn't know you lived so far away from London. I thought you studied at London Arts, or whatever it's called."
"It's called University of the Arts London, and no, I'm not rich enough to stay in London, hm. Besides, I do an art degree, yeah, I can hardly get enough sleep as it is."
"Poor you," Obito pouts, unthinkingly reaching out to pat Deidara on the head. He freezes at the feeling of the soft beanie against his fingers but when Deidara doesn't pull away, despite only knowing each other for less than an hour, he doesn't make a scene about it and continues to pet him. "Get some rest, then. I'm sure the announcement would be loud enough to wake us up if I end up falling asleep too."
"You're not going to sleep?" Deidara is already shifting, beginning to lean to his side and when his entire weight is on Obito, neither of them seems to mind.
"Too anxious about the flight to fall asleep right now," Obito says softly, still petting Deidara's beanie, and effectively, his head.
"Hmm," Deidara hums, head resting on Obito's shoulder and it's clear that he isn't even really there anymore. "Goodnight, then, axe-murderer."
Obito puffs out a laugh, as the snow continues to fall outside.
Hey guys, Red here!
This is based on Tumblr user awful-aus:
"We're both trapped overnight at the airport due to bad weather, do you mind if I hang out with you? The airport freaks me out at night." AU
I didn't really delve into the whole, "the airport freaks me out at night" specifically, because I am personally not afraid of airports, whether it be day or night. I just don't like them. They remind me of the fact that I have to be away from my family.
Cornwall had snow for two days and everything shut down. My two-day weekend turned into a four-and-a-half-day one because I still had to go to my Wednesday 11 am seminar. Everything else after that was canceled, though, so that was a blessed day. Friday also ended up getting canceled, even though the snow has already melted then, but I'm not going to complain since I got to get away from my 9am.
If you enjoyed this, or not, please leave a comment to let me know!
-redskiez:)