He looks at him like he's offending all of his senses by merely being alive, which if he thinks about it, may very well be the truth.
"Of all the people I met," Deidara says, beginning to head over to him, "there is only one who is a massive enough of an idiot to wear masks that catch others' eyes, instead of the opposite, hm."
He remains sitting on the rock, holding his tongue.
"Did Kabuto actually revive you, yeah?" Deidara asks, standing in front of him now.
Still, he doesn't say anything.
After a few heartbeats, he watches as Deidara peers at him, looking up and down and even straining to peek over him. This continues for a few seconds before Deidara finally sighs and then moves to sit down beside him.
"You're Tobi, right?"
Obito doesn't do anything to acknowledge him. Instead, he focuses on the way an ant is scrambling across the dirt.
"What did the afterlife do to you that changed you, hm?" Deidara asks. "Or did Kabuto take away your ability to speak when he revived you?"
"I didn't die," Tobi finally says.
Deidara shifts and then when he next hears his voice, he seems to be closer.
"I didn't think you did," he says. "You were pretty good at running away from things, hm."
Obito holds his left hand in his right.
"Well, I hope it was my ultimate art that made you finally mature mentally, yeah," Deidara says and he hears him cross his arms.
Tobi shakes his head minutely and Deidara doesn't comment on it.
"So, run me through on the events that happened after I died, yeah," Deidara says, stern.
Obito finally sits up straight and turns to face his former partner, seeing for the first time – up close – what Kabuto can do with the so-called perfected Edo Tensei.
Deidara looks the same as he does when he was still alive, but the telltale blackness of his sclera gives it all away.
Obito tries not to focus on that.
"There's a war," Tobi says.
"No, I know that there's a war," Deidara says. "Tell me what happened immediately after I died, hm."
"Uchiha Sasuke managed to escape your bomb," Tobi says.
Deidara's expression turns stormy. "Bullshit," he says, "there was no way he could have escaped, hm, the bomb's radius goes miles."
Tobi shrugs.
He hears Deidara click his tongue and then he falls quiet for a long time until Obito feels a firm hand rests on his shoulder.
"Tobi," he hears Deidara say.
Tobi nods once, bidding him to keep talking.
"What happened to you?"
"Nothing happened," Tobi says.
"No," Deidara replies. "Something did, hm. What's with the new look?"
"Change of clothes," Tobi shrugs.
"Change of clothes," Deidara repeats with a slight change of tone, mocking him. "Why are you wearing a new mask? And pray tell, why does it look like a goddamn Sharingan?"
Obito turns away from Deidara, finding he lacks the courage to face him. "I thought that senpai is smart," Tobi mumbles.
"Smart," Deidara chuckles and then he outright laughs in his face, fingers digging into his right shoulder. "You're telling me that you're an Uchiha, Tobi, hm?"
Obito hopes that Tobi's silence will answer Deidara's – probably rhetoric – question.
"I can't believe it," Deidara says, letting go of his shoulder and laughing coldly in disbelief. "You're an Uchiha after all this time."
"I can't exactly change what family I was born from, Deidara-senpai."
"Don't 'senpai' me, you piece of shit," Deidara stands. "You lied to me, hm."
"I didn't," Obito says firmly.
"Then tell me what happened."
"After you died, I stopped hiding in the shadows and stepped into my rightful role. The Akatsuki's numbers were dwindling and there was no time to waste."
"Your rightful role," Deidara scoffs, shaking his head. "I knew it. With an organization like this, it had to be run by an Uchiha, hm."
"It's not what you think," Obito says.
"Then what is it?"
Obito doesn't know what to say. Why did he say that? Of course, it is what Deidara thinks.
"The entire time, you're the secret leader and you're an Uchiha, hm," Deidara says. "So everything was an act, then?"
Obito wants to say something but Deidara cuts him off.
"I knew something was up when you didn't seem particularly excited that I'm back, hm," he says. "Can't believe that I have to say I want the whining Tobi back. It felt nice to have someone mourn me so loudly, hm."
"I didn't want this to happen," Tobi tries. "Kabuto made me – blackmailed me."
"But you're gaining an advantage over it, hm," Deidara says accusingly.
"Yes, but I never wanted it in the first place," Obito says. "Your body is indestructible. You inhabit a body that directly contradicts your art philosophy. Why would I let anyone do that to you when I know your art is so important to you?"
Deidara lets out a dry laugh at his words. "Are you trying to make this about my feelings, hm?" Deidara says, bitter. "I didn't know you cared so much, Tobi, hm."
Obito furrows his eyebrows and then suddenly, everything starts to fall into place.
"You cared about Tobi,"Obito says and then cringes at his choice of words.
"Of course I cared about you," Deidara says and then he stops himself. "You're not Tobi, hm."
As observant as ever, Obito thinks to himself. He can't believe something he'd admire in the heat of battle would come back to bite him in the ass.
"Tobi was never a real person," Obito decides to say. "It's my alias."
Deidara looks as if someone just punched him in the stomach. His expression is so pained that it makes Obito feels a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. It is as though something is writhing in it. It is uncomfortable and very unlike the similar slithery feelings he got when Rin was still alive.
"Everything was an act, hm," is all Deidara says.
"Not everything," Obito replies.
Deidara ignores him. "What's your real name, then, hm?" he asks, still looking pained.
"Obito," he says.
"Uchiha Obito," Deidara says.
Obito doesn't say anything.
He watches as Deidara quickly glances up into the sky, his eye suspiciously watery, and then turns his gaze back to him. He begins to nod minutely as if he is realizing something for the first time.
"I liked you," Deidara says.
Obito nods.
"I didn't want to drag you into my suicide, hm," he continues.
Obito nods again.
"I thought you died with me," he says, "so the first thought I had when I woke up in this god-awful body was how I can see you to tell you I'm sorry, hm, in person this time."
Obito remains still.
Deidara liked him. Deidara liked Tobi.
He moves to stand up and Deidara takes a step back. He sees his mouth twitch but before his former partner can leave him alone, Obito reaches out – quickly – and gathers Deidara into his arms.
Deidara struggles at first, leading Obito to just hold him closer. It takes a few moments but, eventually, Deidara goes still. Obito senses a strange sensation in his throat – it feels a little too tight, or a little too big. He swallows thickly, feeling pins and needles when he does.
He grips Deidara tighter. He buries his masked face into his hair.
He smells like earth and fabric and plaster – there is no hint of rot anywhere.
He is cold and Obito senses no heartbeat. He feels frail and small in his arms and Obito feels as though he should strangle Kabuto.
Obito stops thinking when he feels Deidara return his embrace, thin arms snaking around his body in a rather awkward manner before wrapping themselves around his torso, locking in place.
"I liked you because I thought you liked me too, hm," Deidara mumbles into his cloak.
"I do like you," Obito replies.
"You pretended to like me."
"I do like you," Obito says with more emphasis this time.
"Somehow, I find that hard to believe, hm."
It is hard to believe. Even Obito didn't know he liked Deidara.
Spending time with Deidara as Tobi made him forget that he is hell-bent on conquering the world. Being with Deidara makes him forget the reason he agreed to do so in the first place.
"I do like you," Obito says one more time.
He feels Deidara nod into his chest and then a quiet "okay" follows.
"I wish I realized it sooner," Obito continues.
"Me too, hm," comes Deidara's feeble response.
Obito thinks it's a miracle for Deidara to like him when he knows nothing about him.
"This technique isn't going to last forever," Obito says. "I… I just wanted you to know that I won't let Kabuto keep using this technique, especially not when the war is over."
Deidara nods. They enjoy each other's solid presence for a while before Deidara loosens his grip and pushes himself up.
"Can I see your face, yeah?"
Obito tilts his head. There is no one around them for miles. Kabuto fucked off somewhere and while Obito doesn't want that man out of his sight, he's glad that he's currently nowhere to be found.
Obito nods.
Deidara reaches up and gently touches the sides of his mask. He traces the patterns with the tip of his fingers for a few moments before he grips the edges. Slowly, very slowly, Deidara lifts his arms and the mask comes off of Tobi's face.
He keeps the mask resting on top of Obito's head as he stares.
His fingers roam across his scars, across his eyes, his nose, and his busted lips.
Deidara's eyes linger there.
"I just… want to know…" Deidara is mumbling.
Obito reaches up and grasps Deidara's wrist, pulling his hand away and leans down in one swift motion.
"…how it feels like…"
Deidara falls quiet when Obito presses his lips against his.
They move slowly, unhurried. A quiet dance between two people knowing that this is the first and the last time they can do this.
They don't break away until Obito can feel himself getting affected. He puts his hand under Deidara's hair, on the nap of his neck, gloved thumb running over Deidara's hairline.
Deidara furrows his eyebrows adorably, leaning up and Obito presses his forehead against Deidara's, relishing in the brush of hair against his scarred cheek.
"Can we stay here," Deidara mumbles, eyes half-closed, "for a little while?"
They can't.
"Okay," Obito says.
Hey guys, Red here!
This is beta'd by AO3 user Dani_ATN.
gensing:
I want to know what you think their reactions to each other would be in Edo Tensei if it was just the two of them alone.
Originally, I wanted more obvious hints to Obito and Deidara's established relationship before Edo Tensei, but I looked over the prompt again and I realized that sticking to canon lore would be better. Toward the part of the conversation where Deidara is demanding Tobi explain everything to him, I realized that it would go down an even angstier path if I don't drive it back to TobiDei, so I hammered it ninety degrees and tried to salvage it before it got too sad.
I don't think it completely worked because now it's just so bittersweet.
This is a gift and dedicated to gensing. I hope you enjoyed it!
Follow me on Tumblr (redskiez dot tumblr dot com) for some side-content and if you want to make me write something for you, too, you can shoot me an ask with the prompt idea. Only taking T/ObiDei prompts, as always, but I will write almost everything. Almost. I'll tell you if I'm uncomfortable with something. If you have an AO3 or FFN account, you should say so in the ask if you want me to dedicate/gift this to you.
If you enjoyed this (or didn't), please leave a review telling me why and which parts! Thanks for reading!