Summary: In which Obito has his heart broken by Rin and then somehow winds up on a date (which he denies to himself is a date) with Kakashi.
The Date (It most definitely was not a date!):
Obito was feeling on top of the world. He felt like nothing could bring him down today. He had woken up feeling energized, had glanced at his team picture (at Rin, of course) and greeted the day with a smile. He had even felt that somehow, today could be a really good day. He hadn't had a real explanation for this feeling, but he had glanced at her picture again and had felt a surge of courage fill him. He had failed in his timing to try to ask Rin out last time (and had given up before he ever really tried), but he felt good about it this time. He had headed out immediately to training with his team, taking his usual detours (helping children and old ladies) and thus was running late.
Even having to run to make it on time (and he still hadn't, really) hadn't brought down his spirits, and Kakashi's usual lecture about tardiness didn't affect him a bit. No, he wasn't going to let anything bring him down today. He needed this small bit of happiness to keep fueling his courage so that he didn't give up again before he even tried. He was going to ask her out at the end of training today. He allowed the feeling to carry him through training, feeling like he somehow performed better than usual (although maybe not as much as he'd like), and at the end of the day, when the sun was just setting and Kakashi was walking away from the training grounds, he took his chance.
"Rin, wait!" he said, causing her to stop and turn back to him curiously with a slight smile. He felt his courage swell a little more with the smile, and he hurried to her side. He swallowed somewhat nervously, but knew that this wasn't the time to freeze up. "Will you go on a date with me?" he asked somewhat quickly, cursing himself in his head immediately afterward. Her face fell a bit, and his stomach balled with dread.
"I'm sorry, Obito. I have feelings for someone else." she said, glancing in Kakashi's direction before looking back at him. He barely managed to keep his face neutral, but he did manage thankfully.
"Oh, well I'm sorry to have bothered you then." he said politely. It was all he could do not to break down in front of her. He had to leave, now. He was not going to cry in front of Rin. He excused himself politely and hurried away at a pace that merely looked as if he wanted to get home in a timely manner (until he'd gotten out of her sight and sped up). Once he reached a training ground that he was sure she wouldn't pass on her way home, he sat down against a tree and let his Uchiha mask (mandatory for every Uchiha) fall. He finally allowed himself to give in to the ache in his chest and sobbed, taking care to make as little noise as possible as was instinct by now (learned through necessity because of his clan).
Why? Why did she have to like that bastard Kakashi? He was an emotionless tool! He prided himself on not displaying such things as emotions! What did she hope to gain from him? Obito doubted the kid could even feel love, little sociopath that he seemed determined to be. Thinking of Kakashi made him angry, but it was still drowned out by the sheer feeling of grief that pervaded him. He knew that some might call him dramatic, but even he knew that what they said about Uchiha and love was spot on. Uchiha loved so deeply that it was hard for them to fall for just anyone, and once they did fall for someone, it was usually for life (which was unfortunate for those who never had their love returned).
There had been exceptions, of course, but Obito knew that most Uchiha saw fit to give up and marry for the good of the clan rather than following some fickle emotion like love anyway. He, through no fault of his own, had disobeyed the warning in that story and had let himself fall, hard. Now, he was paying the price for that. It was well known, as much as it was that Uchiha loved deeply, that the Uchiha were also cursed in love. Very few Uchiha ever got the one they desired without something happening to disrupt their happiness, and of course, those who didn't get the one they yearned for in the first place were only usually marginally better off.
He supposed that he really didn't deserve her though. He was just a dead-last Uchiha, which was apparently unheard of before him (or so his clan would have him believe). It's not like he could really protect her if it came down to tough opponents. Kakashi could though; he was ideal to protect her, if only he would get his head out of his ass and see the beautiful girl that had apparently fallen for him without Obito's notice (or maybe he just hadn't wanted to notice). It hurt him to acknowledge, but he also somehow felt a little lighter for the acknowledgement, like he was freeing himself from some burden. He knew he only really wanted her happiness anyway, and if that wasn't with him, so be it.
He would still become stronger, if only to actually have the ability to protect Rin and, if he ever actually needed it, that bastard Kakashi (if only for Rin's sake). His resolve stopped his tears as nothing else had, even if he still had evidence of his shameful display on his face. He couldn't help how easily he cried, honestly! His eyes were sensitive in the first place, and it was frankly a freaking miracle that he hadn't busted out the water works in front of Rin. He usually did (embarrassingly) cry in front of her, unfortunately, but fortunately she had never been witness to anything of this level. He did have some measure of control of himself, even if his stupid eyes betrayed him at the worst times in his frustration and he made up stupid excuses to compensate.
Of course, he'd never really sobbed out of frustration, so he'd never had a need to get away from her as quickly as he had to vent before. Either way, thinking about it was not helping him. He wasn't going to start that shameful display again, but he really didn't want to go back to his clan compound with the evidence so clearly on his face (despite the fact that it was getting dark now and they were less likely to see it). If someone did see it, they would only have cause to "punish" him for showing emotion outside the clan compound (specifically, his own bedroom) and he really didn't want to deal with his clan tonight. He'd woken up feeling so great about today, and really, look how that had turned out.
He should have known better than to think that he could have any lasting form of happiness. It wasn't like he deserved it. With a sigh, he shook his head to temporarily clear it of his gloomy thoughts, going to find the nearest stream to wash his face in so that his clan couldn't berate him. He didn't even notice he'd been followed, and continued not to as his follower stayed hidden to see what he was up to. Once he finally found a small stream, he bent down, cupped some water in his hands and splashed his face, rubbing the soothingly cool water over his burning eyes and reddened cheeks. Once he was done washing his face, he stood, grimacing.
He didn't want to go back to the compound just yet. He'd already had his good day come crashing down. He didn't need more added to it. He would probably wait until most Uchiha were asleep, which meant training for him. He sighed, returning to the training ground he had left so he could at least do something to kill time so the Uchiha would go to sleep. His shadow followed him once more, he unfortunately remaining oblivious as he had not been trained in his (unknown) sensor abilities at all and this shadow was particularly good about not being seen and heard. When he reached the training ground, he was a little lost on what to do. He could work on taijutsu, but there was no one to correct him.
He could work on ninjutsu, but there was no one to teach him new Katon jutsu (as went along with his primary nature). At least, no one who cared enough to. Sensei was usually the one to train him in his secondary nature (wind), but he could only handle a certain level of jutsu due to his immature chakra capacity (only up to C ranks right now, unfortunately) and he didn't feel like working on the jutsu he knew. His brow furrowed in thought, and he didn't notice his shadow until he was right in front of him, startling Obito, who took a defensive stance on instinct. He was used to immature Uchiha using such tricks to hit him while he wasn't paying attention.
When he finally noticed who it was, he scowled. What was he doing here. He stared at the shinobi across from him, not willing to say a word to him until the other did, glaring at him in silence. He wasn't going to make whatever this was easy on Kakashi, and he bet that Kakashi could tell by the way he sighed (actually sighed) before he decided to speak, lest they stand there all day.
"Train with me." he said (well, more demanded). It wasn't a question. Obito's scowl deepened.
"Is that an order?" he asked sarcastically, not budging from where he stood. He could see Kakashi frown even through the cloth of his mask and he congratulated himself on being difficult enough to actually get a visible reaction out of the other teen.
"No, it isn't. I simply wanted you to train with me. If you would rather be elsewhere, be my guest." he said, turning to start practicing his kata and seemingly ignoring Obito. Obito rolled his eyes. So he was going to play this game, was he? What the hell was the Hatake playing at? Did he really think he was going to get into one of those immature "I was here first!" fights with him? It wasn't even worth his effort. He just shrugged and started walking away quietly, wanting to be rid of his headache (the other nin) as soon as possible. It was his bad luck that the Hatake apparently wanted to follow him, as he did just that for some unknown reason, making Obito fight not to groan.
"Why can't you just leave me alone? Don't you have better things to do that follow around a dead-last? What do you really want? Don't tell me you've actually finally decided on your own initiative to train with me either, because I'm not buying it! You've never given a flying fuck about me or what I could or couldn't do before, and I doubt that's changed at all! What do you actually want from me?" he asked, scowling as he turned back to the silver haired shinobi. The nin sighed once more, his face softening (from what he could see of it) in a way Obito had never seen and making his stomach flutter for some unknown reason. Before he could protest the shinobi's actions, Kakashi was in front of him holding a hand.
"Dinner." he said quietly, awaiting Obito's reaction. Obito was surprised enough to actually laugh before he realized Kakashi was being completely serious and choked it down.
"W-what? Dinner with me? Where on Earth did you get training from dinner? One couldn't be further from the other!" he said, letting himself address the actual question only after he was done with his initial reaction. "Anyway, why would you want to go to dinner with me? Don't you have better things to do than waste your time with a loser?" he asked derisively, taking his hand from the Hatake's grasp and crossing his arms defiantly. The Hatake shook his head, looking imploringly at Obito.
"I only want to spend time with you. Please go with me? I'll pay." he said quietly, leaving Obito's face red and his stomach fluttery. He reasoned that he needed to eat anyway, and that he had also wanted to kill time before going back to the compound. It wasn't at all because of the look the Hatake wore. Nope. Besides that, it wasn't like the Hatake wanted to go on a date with him or anything. It most definitely was not a date.
"Fine." Obito sighed, uncrossing his arms and motioning for Kakashi to lead the way. He pretended not to see the way the other nin's eyes lit up before he turned to lead the way to wherever they were going to eat. Obito followed sedately, only just keeping pace with Kakashi so he was walking beside him rather than behind him. He was led to one of the Akimichi's BBQ places and they sat down together once they got a table. They were given menus to peruse, and while Obito (not having been here in awhile) was actually looking at his menu to see what he wanted, Kakashi was looking at the other teen more than at his menu (not that Obito really noticed) with a slight smile under his mask.
When Obito finally saw something he wanted, he closed his menu and sat it down, noticing Kakashi had already done so before him. They waited (awkwardly so, at least on Obito's part) a few silent minutes (with Obito staring at his menu rather than Kakashi) for the waitress to come back by and take their orders and menus. They both placed their orders and gave her the menus, then she was gone and it was silent once more. This time, however, he had nothing to distract him from the nin across from him, whom he could feel staring at him. He looked up properly at him and saw the same soft look from earlier. His stomach fluttered again and his heartbeat quickened, his face reddening in response.
The red on his face only grew brighter as Kakashi reached across the table and gently took his hand, making his heart skip a beat and his stomach squirm pleasantly. He looked away from the other teen, unsure of what was happening. Why was he feeling like this? The only time he'd ever felt similar was when Rin smiled at him, and even then it hadn't been this strong of a feeling. Did he...like Kakashi? He shook his head at himself, unwilling to believe that. No, as far as he knew he had only ever loved Rin. He had only really been attracted to her, despite other undoubtedly good looking kunoichi in their generation. Well, he supposed, love and attraction weren't necessarily the same things.
He knew that it wasn't love then, because there was no emotional investment on his part in the nin across from him. He did, however, feel attraction to him at least on some level. It was odd; he had never been attracted to anyone other than Rin before, so this was really new territory, especially when there wasn't any emotional grounding to back this attraction up. It was purely physical, unlike the attraction he felt for Rin, which, while her looks played a part, was mostly based on her sweet personality and her love of life. He really didn't know what to do here. Did he withdraw from this...whatever it was? It seemed like, somehow, his teammate wanted something from him, but he didn't know what it was.
He had said that he'd only wanted to spend time with him, but why? What did Kakashi gain from wasting his time with Obito? He didn't get it. He especially didn't get the hand holding, even if it did feel nice (especially when Kakashi stroked his thumb lightly across his hand). He looked back up at Kakashi to possibly get some answers when the question died in his throat at the look in Kakashi's eyes. His eyes, usually a dark grey, were almost black now, his pupils oddly wide and his eyelids lazily half closed as he studied the teen in front of him. Obito could see a pink tinge on his face peeking from under his mask. Was that look what he thought it was?
Obito's stomach squirmed pleasantly again, and he had to force himself not to look the teen over as he was so obviously doing to Obito. He didn't want his attraction to Kakashi to go any further, and if he allowed his eyes to linger, it most certainly would. People didn't look like that at one another without eventually doing something about it, and he was sure that neither he nor Kakashi were really physically ready for that type of thing. So, his eyes lingered on Kakashi's masked face, taking in the lines and contours and imagining what he would look like under the mask. He was interrupted from his staring (and hand holding) by the waitress, who dropped off their food, shot Obito a dirty, envious look, and then left quickly.
Obito questioned it for all of about two seconds and then shrugged, tucking in to his meal as Kakashi did the same. They ended up actually chatting through the meal, talking about different things they wanted to learn, and what they wanted to improve upon most in training. Conversation was easy between them once they actually started talking and discussing their interests rather than insulting one another as they usually did or awkwardly keeping silent. Hours passed them by this way before they even knew it, and they were long done with their food by the time they left the restaurant. They walked contentedly side by side, not heading anywhere in particular.
Obito knew that he was safe to go home now, but as Kakashi slipped his hand into Obito's once more, Obito found that he couldn't really care. He let Kakashi pull him along to wherever he wanted to lead him, and after a 20 minute or so walk they were standing together on top of the Hokage Monument, hands and fingers intertwined as they looked up at the stars together. They stayed like that for a little while before Kakashi took his hand from Obito's, making Obito turn to him questioningly. He held up a finger in the classic "hold on" signal and pushed a little chakra into the storage seal on his arm, removing a blanket from the seal and spreading it out on the ground for them before he laid down on it and patted the blanket beside him.
Obito looked at him for a moment, nervous, before he laid down beside Kakashi on the blanket, looking at Kakashi rather than the sky. The other teen took Obito's hand once more, intertwining their fingers again as he too looked at Obito rather than the beautiful night sky above. They were mesmerized by one another, and before Obito knew what was happening, Kakashi's dark mask was down (not that he could see much of his face in the dim lighting anyway) and he was pulling Obito closer. Obito's heart hammered in his chest as Kakashi's lips met his in a gentle kiss, responding in kind before he could even think to do anything else. He didn't know how long it had lasted before they had needed to break for breath, but he did know that he had really liked it.
He smiled goofily at the teen in front of him before, as one, they turned their attention back to the sky above, a comfortable silence filling the air around them as they cuddled together and watched the stars. He didn't know how long it was that he lay there before he started to doze in Kakashi's warm embrace, uncaring of whether or not he even made it back to the clan compound that night as he dozed next to his (friend? Boyfriend?) companion under the stars. His final thought right before he fell asleep, tucking his head sleepily into Kakashi's exposed throat, was that he could really get used to this. Above him, Kakashi took in one last whiff of Obito's scent before he too fell asleep, smiling contently as he held and was held by his warm companion.
