Peppermint Winter
A pair of gentle galloping clipped through the otherwise quiet winter night, snow falling silently onto the forest floor.
One of the men of the duo looked up, staring deep into the woods. He turned his masked face toward his partner, who sat on his own sleek brown stallion. "Senpai," the masked man called, catching the blonde's attention. He did a little wave, then held out his hand for snowflakes to fall on his gloves. "It's snowing!"
"I can see that, you dumbass," the blonde groaned, jerking his head away from his rather idiotic partner and yanked the reins of his horse. The horse gave a little whinny and continued on the snow covered dirt road.
They were supposed to finish their mission in less than two weeks, but because of some stupid weather conditions, the sky decided to stupidly have snowstorms all the while. He groaned. Snowstorms meant their mission was hindered, and they had to take up more time of their otherwise holiday to complete it. Taking up more time of their holiday meant that he had to spend more time with Tobi.
What kind of genius thought this was a good idea?
Wait.
Right. It was him. He thought that taking just one more mission would give him extra credit, so that his holiday would be longer, and he could spend more time in hot springs rather than the cold cave of the Akatsuki hideout around his loud and obnoxious partner. Turned out it backfired on him. How strangely typical yet ironic.
"Deidara-senpai!"
Another shrill call jerked him out of his reverie, and the blonde turned his head toward his lollipop-masked partner. "What, hmm!?" Irritation ticked at him, his lips peeled back into a sneer.
"There's a rabbit!" Tobi had gotten off his black stallion at some point, kneeling down on the snow covered floor, reaching out to let a pure white rabbit sniff his hand. With a movement too quick to be caught by Deidara, Tobi followed it up with a rather queer shoulder pat, dusting off the powdery snow off his cloak.
"We have to go, un," Deidara huffed, annoyed at his partner. "It's getting dark and I refuse to stay out here risking hypothermia, hmm."
Tobi tilted his head at the blonde, an innocent posture all in all. He reached out slowly, digging his hands into the snow, movements too slow for Deidara to even get the slightest idea of what he was doing.
Deidara growled, pulling the collar of his cloak higher and tighter to attempt to fend off the cold. The wind bit at his cheek like thousands of tiny needles, causing him to hide under his clothes even more. He shoved his freezing hands under his armpits, trying to get some warmth into them. Even his mouths didn't want to open up and lull their tongues; which was one of the things he liked about winter, he supposed. Despite their usefulness, sometimes they can turn into a pain in the ass.
His musing was once again interrupted by his partner. He staggered forward when something hit him from behind. The blonde turned sharply on his heels, glaring his blue eyes at the raven. When he was only greeted by the innocent head tilt again, he reached down and grabbed a handful of snow, his fingers already frozen enough that he didn't feel anything. Before he could get frostbite, he formed the handful of snow into a ball and flung it at Tobi, hearing the satisfying crunch when the snow hit his partner's mask.
Soon enough, he was plummeted by a barrage of snowballs, sending him reeling back and bumping into his brown stallion. The horse gave an annoyed huff and whined, galloping away from the blonde and stood beside Tobi's black stallion, his tail flickering and bent his head down, nosing away some snow to reveal the grass below, starting his meal with his black haired friend.
Deidara smirked, scooping armfuls of snow and building a barrier in front of him. He kneeled behind it, grabbing handfuls upon handfuls of snow to make snowballs. He was skilled in terms of crafting, and within a minute, he had at least a dozen snowballs laid out in front of him. He reached down and grabbed a snowball in each hand, his hand-mouths sealed tight in fear of getting their tongues stuck on the snow and ice if they licked.
The moment he peeked his head out, however, he was once again assaulted by another wave of snowballs from his partner. Some missed, and flew way behind him, deeper into the woods. He didn't pay any attention to them, and flung two at Tobi's direction. When he heard the sound of them hitting something, he laughed.
The fight eventually dwindled to a halt, as the cold began to hinder their movements.
"Let's go now, senpai," Tobi panted, puffs of air managing to sneak out of the edge of his orange mask, pushing clouds of steam against the air.
Deidara nodded briskly, standing up from behind his snowy shield and brushed his numb hands against his trousers, shivering when he felt the cold fabric. When the powdery snow were rid from his clothes, he stood up straight and nodded again at his partner, taking a step forward.
Only to slip on the ice hidden beneath the snow, landing on his face. Deidara shouted in surprise, his hands reeling up and pushing himself off the snow covered forest floor. He trembled, too cold to do anything else but stare at the snow with a shocked expression on his face.
Tobi cackled, almsot falling onto his bottom from the laughter. He snorted, slapping his hand against his knee as he laughed. Short puffs of air slipped out of his mask, his shoulders shaking so badly it looked as if to anyone too far away to hear his laughter that he was crying.
Deidara huffed, struggling up to his knees and grasped onto the edge of Tobi's cloak. He yanked as hard as he can, pulling Tobi and making the raven lose his balance. The two of them fell down onto the snow together, and Deidara scuffled with the other until they were both panting with exhaustion and from the cold.
The masked nin smiled behind his mask, though it was not visible to the other. He let his hand run through the silky texture of his partner's long blonde hair, watching the small flecks of snow fall onto the beautiful mane before whispering, barely audible from the lightly howling wind.
"Merry Christmas, Deidara-senpai," Tobi breathed, so gentle that it would be carried off with the wind if Deidara wasn't so close to catch it.
Hey guys, Red here!
Merry Christmas! Y'all think I'm gone, didn't ya? Well, I'm alive and well, and enjoying my Christmas! I thought I'd write a Christmas fic for TobiDei, since I've done so since the first Christmas I've spent on this website. I'll be writing a New Years one as well, but I'm not sure when I'll be done with it, since I have an examination after my holidays.
On a darker note of this cheery Christmas, I've kinda moved on from this pairing. They're still cute, but I'm no longer spending as much time as I used to in my junior years. Yes, it's because of school, since I'm in senior year and all; but it's also because of this insanely smart and incredibly good-looking Norse God of Mischief and Lies.
Also wibbly wobbly timey whimey.
This fic is inspired by and named after the song Peppermint Winter by Owl City, inspired by poem Stopping By the Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, electric song Chasing Winter by Approaching Nirvana, and two prompts by otpprompts on Tumblr.
To those curious: yes, they were being stalked and chased after, thus the queer movement of Tobi (testing the ambushers) and the snowballs that missed Deidara and went deeper into the woods (hitting the ambushers with weapons wrapped in snow).
-redskiez:)